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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCummings Calls on Gowdy to Correct Record, Release Blumenthal Transcript after Inaccurate Claims
Cummings Calls on Gowdy to Correct Record, Release Blumenthal Transcript after Inaccurate Claims
Oct 20, 2015 Press Release
WASHINGTONToday, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, sent a letter calling on Chairman Trey Gowdy to release Sidney Blumenthals full deposition transcript in order to correct the public record after Gowdy claimed on national television that he had zero interest in the Clinton Foundation and other topics and issued only one subpoena relating to Secretary Clintons emails. The full letter is online here and set forth below:
October 20, 2015
The Honorable Trey Gowdy
Chairman
Select Committee on the Events Surrounding
the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Over the past month, you have made several inaccurate statements to try to defend against repeated Republican admissions that the Select Committee has been spending millions of taxpayer dollars to damage Secretary Clintons bid to become President.
For example, you inaccurately claimed that the Select Committee interviewed 50 witnesses who had never been interviewed previously, you inaccurately claimed that Secretary Clintons email contained classified information about the identity of a CIA source, and you inaccurately claimed that the Select Committee did not abandon key parts of its investigation to focus on Secretary Clinton.
You made yet another inaccurate statement on Sunday during your appearance on CBSs Face the Nation. Arguing that the Select Committee is not focused on Secretary Clintons emails in order to damage her campaign for president, you stated:
There are other folks who may have equities in her e-mails and there may be other entities who are evaluating her e-mails. But my interest in them is solely making sure that I get everything Im entitled to, so I can do my job. The rest of it, classification, Clinton Foundation, you name it, I have zero interest in, which is why you havent seen me send a subpoena related to it or interview a single person, other than Bryan Pagliano, because I need to know that the record is complete.
Your statement is inaccurate. You issued a subpoena on May 19, 2015, to require Sidney Blumenthal to appear before the Select Committee for a deposition on June 16, 2015. You issued this subpoena unilaterallywithout any debate or vote by Select Committee Membersand you sent two armed Marshals to serve this subpoena on his wife without ever sending him a request to participate in a voluntary interview, which he would have accepted.
You personally attended Mr. Blumenthals deposition, you personally asked Mr. Blumenthal about the Clinton Foundation, and you personally directed your staffon the recordto ask more than 50 questions specifically about the Clinton Foundation. Republicans also asked more than 45 questions about David Brock, Media Matters, and affiliated entities, and they asked more than 160 questions about Mr. Blumenthals relationship and communications with the Clintons.
The transcript of Mr. Blumenthals deposition directly contradicts your claims on national television this past Sunday. For these reasons, I call on you to release Mr. Blumenthals full transcript today so the public record can be corrected and so the American people can see for themselves what in fact occurred during this interview.
To date, you have refused repeated requests by Democratic Members to release Mr. Blumenthals deposition transcript. However, it is incredibly unfair to the American people to make claims on national television that are completely erroneous and then refuse to release the evidence that clearly demonstrates their inaccuracy.
It has now been more than 100 days since the Democratic Members of the Select Committee officially requested that you schedule a vote to release Mr. Blumenthals deposition transcript, and your continued refusal is in direct violation of the procedures adopted by the House of Representatives.
As you know, the official House deposition procedures prohibit the release of deposition transcripts without the consent of the Chairman. However, they also require you to promptly refer our request for resolution by the Members of the Select Committee. Your refusal to agree to the release or to schedule any vote during this extended period of time violates the procedures adopted by the House of Representatives, and it is an abuse of your authority as Chairman.
Although I understand you do not want the details of this deposition to become public, your personal opposition to releasing Mr. Blumenthals transcript to the American people does not give you the right to violate House procedures and conceal evidence of the Select Committees efforts to target Secretary Clinton for political reasons.
For all of these reasons set forth above, I request that you release Mr. Blumenthals full transcript immediately.
Sincerely,
Elijah E. Cummings
Ranking Member
114th Congress
The Honorable Trey Gowdy
Chairman
Select Committee on the Events Surrounding
the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Over the past month, you have made several inaccurate statements to try to defend against repeated Republican admissions that the Select Committee has been spending millions of taxpayer dollars to damage Secretary Clintons bid to become President.
For example, you inaccurately claimed that the Select Committee interviewed 50 witnesses who had never been interviewed previously, you inaccurately claimed that Secretary Clintons email contained classified information about the identity of a CIA source, and you inaccurately claimed that the Select Committee did not abandon key parts of its investigation to focus on Secretary Clinton.
You made yet another inaccurate statement on Sunday during your appearance on CBSs Face the Nation. Arguing that the Select Committee is not focused on Secretary Clintons emails in order to damage her campaign for president, you stated:
There are other folks who may have equities in her e-mails and there may be other entities who are evaluating her e-mails. But my interest in them is solely making sure that I get everything Im entitled to, so I can do my job. The rest of it, classification, Clinton Foundation, you name it, I have zero interest in, which is why you havent seen me send a subpoena related to it or interview a single person, other than Bryan Pagliano, because I need to know that the record is complete.
Your statement is inaccurate. You issued a subpoena on May 19, 2015, to require Sidney Blumenthal to appear before the Select Committee for a deposition on June 16, 2015. You issued this subpoena unilaterallywithout any debate or vote by Select Committee Membersand you sent two armed Marshals to serve this subpoena on his wife without ever sending him a request to participate in a voluntary interview, which he would have accepted.
You personally attended Mr. Blumenthals deposition, you personally asked Mr. Blumenthal about the Clinton Foundation, and you personally directed your staffon the recordto ask more than 50 questions specifically about the Clinton Foundation. Republicans also asked more than 45 questions about David Brock, Media Matters, and affiliated entities, and they asked more than 160 questions about Mr. Blumenthals relationship and communications with the Clintons.
The transcript of Mr. Blumenthals deposition directly contradicts your claims on national television this past Sunday. For these reasons, I call on you to release Mr. Blumenthals full transcript today so the public record can be corrected and so the American people can see for themselves what in fact occurred during this interview.
To date, you have refused repeated requests by Democratic Members to release Mr. Blumenthals deposition transcript. However, it is incredibly unfair to the American people to make claims on national television that are completely erroneous and then refuse to release the evidence that clearly demonstrates their inaccuracy.
It has now been more than 100 days since the Democratic Members of the Select Committee officially requested that you schedule a vote to release Mr. Blumenthals deposition transcript, and your continued refusal is in direct violation of the procedures adopted by the House of Representatives.
As you know, the official House deposition procedures prohibit the release of deposition transcripts without the consent of the Chairman. However, they also require you to promptly refer our request for resolution by the Members of the Select Committee. Your refusal to agree to the release or to schedule any vote during this extended period of time violates the procedures adopted by the House of Representatives, and it is an abuse of your authority as Chairman.
Although I understand you do not want the details of this deposition to become public, your personal opposition to releasing Mr. Blumenthals transcript to the American people does not give you the right to violate House procedures and conceal evidence of the Select Committees efforts to target Secretary Clinton for political reasons.
For all of these reasons set forth above, I request that you release Mr. Blumenthals full transcript immediately.
Sincerely,
Elijah E. Cummings
Ranking Member
114th Congress
http://democrats.benghazi.house.gov/news/press-releases/cummings-calls-on-gowdy-to-correct-record-release-blumenthal-transcript-after
**************
Fact Check: Republican Claim That Congress Never Saw Any of Ambassador Stevens Email
Oct 20, 2015 Press Release
WASHINGTON Over the past 48 hours, Republicans have repeatedly made the inaccurate claim that no committees of Congress have ever had access to any of Ambassador Christopher Stevens emails:
This Sunday on Face the Nation, Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, claimed that none of the seven previous committees bothered to access the emails of our Ambassador.
Also appearing on Sunday on Meet the Press, Republican Select Committee Member Mike Pompeo made the same claim: How on earth could any of the other committees have completed their work properly without access to the senior person on the grounds emails?
And just this morning on CNN, Republican Select Committee Member Lynn Westmoreland went even further, claiming: Wouldnt you want to know the emails of the guy that was there that was murdered and what he had asked for as far as help from the people he worked for? Weve just now gotten those emails. We have just now gotten them. Nobody else had requested them. I havent had a chance to read them. We didnt get them until the day before yesterday.
This latest Republican talking point suggests that nobody in Congress has ever seen any emails from Ambassador Stevens before, and these emails include new information about requests for additional security that Secretary Clinton ignored or denied.
In fact, Congress has had access to many of Ambassador Stevens emails for years. Although some additional emails from Ambassador Stevens have been produced, none of them include any evidence to change the core fact that was already known: Secretary Clinton was not involved in responding to requests for additional security in Benghazi.
http://democrats.benghazi.house.gov/news/press-releases/benghazi-fact-check-republican-claim-that-congress-never-saw-any-of-ambassador
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Cummings Calls on Gowdy to Correct Record, Release Blumenthal Transcript after Inaccurate Claims (Original Post)
kpete
Oct 2015
OP
Rex
(65,616 posts)1. Thank you sir! Mr. Cummings is kicking ass and taking names!
They picked the wrong committee to try their buffoonery on!
BootinUp
(47,171 posts)2. Nice letter. nt
mcar
(42,358 posts)3. Thank you Rep Cummings
kwassa
(23,340 posts)4. Cummings is outstanding! Great counter-attack.
Gowdy deserves no less.
mountain grammy
(26,640 posts)5. Congressman Cumming is speaking for me! Thank you, sir!
malaise
(269,111 posts)6. Poor Gowdy - he thinks he's in Cummings' league
He will learn