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2016’s ‘October Surprise?’ Not Much of a Surprise

Boehner said he'll remain speaker "until I've had enough." (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Boehner said he'll remain speaker "until I've had enough." (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

October revelations about the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi weren’t enough to get the Republican presidential candidate over the hump in 2012 — but that doesn’t mean it won’t work in 2016, right?  

The ongoing partisan rancor over the GOP-controlled House Select Committee on Benghazi erupted again Wednesday after Bloomberg reported a day earlier  that the panel’s final report — originally expected sometime his year — likely won’t be finished until sometime in the presidential election year of 2016. The committee’s ranking Democrat cried foul Wednesday, accusing Republicans of trying to use the report to score political points against Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic Party’s likely 2016 standard-bearer.  

“With the Republicans’ obsessive focus on Hillary Clinton, and their now stated intention to drag out this political charade until just months before the 2016 election, the Select Committee no longer bears any resemblance to its original purpose,” Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said in a statement.  

House Speaker John A. Boehner said the Benghazi report could be wrapped up a lot sooner if former secretary of State Clinton cooperated with the panel, chaired by South Carolina Republican Trey Gowdy.  

“When we have the facts, we’ll have the report,” Boehner said at a news conference. “They’ve got a lot more work to do.”  

Gowdy has asked Clinton to turn over a private server she used to store her emails during her four years at State — including during and after the September 2012 attack that left four Americans dead in Benghazi, Libya, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.  

Related:

Gowdy: Benghazi Panel Will Ask Clinton to Appear — Twice


Gowdy: ‘Southern Politeness’ Isn’t Working in Benghazi Probe


Benghazi Hearing Opening Statements From Gowdy, Cummings


The 114th: CQ Roll Call’s Guide to the New Congress


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