By Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) – The Republican chairman of a
congressional oversight committee ordered the U.S. State
Department on Tuesday to provide documents related to “talking
points” used to discuss September’s Benghazi attacks during
subsequent television appearances.
U.S. Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House of
Representatives panel, issued a subpoena ordering 10 current and
former State Department officials to hand over “documents and
communications” related to the attacks in Libya last Sept. 11,
when four Americans were killed.
Republicans and Democrats have been waging a political
battle over the attacks.
Republicans charge that President Barack Obama’s
administration covered up details of the assault on a U.S.
diplomatic outpost out of concern that the incident could
tarnish the Democrat’s foreign policy credentials during his
re-election campaign.
Democrats dismiss the Republicans’ concerns as a politically
motivated fishing expedition seeking to discredit Obama and
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, considered a top
Democratic presidential contender in 2016.
Many of the cover-up accusations stem from unclassified
“talking point” memos from intelligence agencies used to prepare
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for
television talk show appearances on Sept. 16.
In those appearances, Rice suggested the attacks were a
spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic film rather than a
premeditated assault.
The Obama administration insists the talking points were
based on the best information available at the time. It has
since acknowledged that militants linked to al Qaeda were behind
the attacks and there was no demonstration in Benghazi.
It also released 100 pages of copied emails earlier this
month documenting the genesis of the talking points.
Issa said the State Department had refused multiple requests
to voluntarily provide the material he seeks.
The subpoenaed documents include communications to or from
officials including William Burns, a deputy secretary of state;
Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman whom Obama has nominated as
assistant secretary of state for Europe; and Cheryl Mills, who
was counselor and chief of staff for Clinton.
“The State Department has not lived up to the
administration’s broad and unambiguous promises of cooperation
with Congress. Therefore, I am left with no alternative but to
compel the State Department to produce relevant documents
through a subpoena,” he said in a letter to Secretary of State
John Kerry accompanying the subpoena.
State Department officials had no immediate comment on the
subpoena, which set a deadline of June 7 for Kerry to provide
the material.
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Philip
Barbara)
