They're at it again:
Eric Cantor is slamming the White House over the newly disclosed Benghazi email, saying it shows the Obama administration “misled” Congress and the American people on the attacks.
And:
Rep. Jason Chaffetz on Thursday blasted the Obama administration on Benghazi, calling it a “major, major scandal” and saying Jay Carney’s comments were “laughable.”
Chaffetz was speaking to Fox, which is devoting a good chunk of its airtime on Thursday to the House Oversight Committee's
latest hearing on Benghazi. I've lost count, but I think the only thing House Republicans have spent more time on over the past two years is trying to repeal Obamacare, and just like with Obamacare, the only thing that's new about what Republicans are saying is the date on which they are saying it.
Case in point: Cantor and Chaffetz were both teeing off on an a White House email released yesterday written by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. The email was about preparing Susan Rice, who was then our U.N. Ambassador, for Sunday show appearances following the attack in Benghazi. Obviously, therefore, Benghazi was one of the topics addressed in the email. Specifically, Rhodes proposed that Rice use the same talking points that the CIA had already developed about protests in Cairo spreading to Benghazi.
Those talking points proved to be flawed, but as Dave Weigel spells out, there is absolutely nothing surprising nor new about the fact that the White House relied on the CIA talking points to brief Susan Rice. By any reasonable standard of logic or evidence, this is a nothingburger, but we're talking about House Republicans and their Benghazi obsession, so reasonable standards of logic and evidence are the first things to go out the window. Instead, we're left with the House Majority Leader accusing the president of having "orchestrated" a coverup and the guy who will be the next Darrell Issa saying the new email is a "major, major scandal."
The reality, of course, is that the only thing that's been orchestrated is the GOP's phony outrage over Benghazi. If there's a major scandal here, that's what it is.
8:25 AM PT: And Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa himself says what happened after Benghazi might be a crime ... committed by the White House:
“It’s disturbing, and perhaps criminal, that these documents were kept from the public. It comes in a week where the American people have learned that you cannot believe what the White House says…and you cannot believe what the president says,” Issa said at an Oversight hearing.
Oh, please. Darrell Issa doesn't believe that for a second. But if he does, he should act on his convictions and impeach the president. I dare him.