A leaked State Department email indicates that officials were worried
about the safety of House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Darrell
Issa after Democrats revealed his plans for a secret trip to Libya this
week.
Issa, a Republican from California, has safely returned from his
fact-finding trip to the country as his committee continues to
investigate the terrorist attacks that killed America’s ambassador and
three others in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.
CBS News reported
Thursday on an email that quoted a Libyan national sharing “his concern
and his opinion that Representative Issa should not come to Libya for
his own safety.”
The email reports that the Libyan thinks, “the people who would harm
Rep. Issa are the same people who conducted the Benghazi attacks.”
Before Issa’s trip, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a press
release asking Issa to postpone his trip until he allows Democrats to
join him.
“Although you claim that your investigation of the Benghazi attacks
is bipartisan, your efforts to secretly plan an official trip to Libya —
and then deliberately exclude Democrats from joining — is part of an
unfortunate pattern of partisanship that undermines the credibility of
this investigation,” Cummings wrote. “The problem with these actions is
that they effectively deny Democratic Members the ability to effectively
investigate this incident.”
Issa’s office responded on Thursday by lamenting the situation.
“Ranking Member Elijah Cummings’ reckless release of information was
not going to deter Chairman Issa from conducting his oversight
responsibilities in the wake of the Benghazi tragedy,” Issa spokesman
Frederick Hill told The Daily Caller.
“Fortunately, despite the media
attention and resulting threat, no security incident occurred during
Rep. Issa’s time in Libya.”
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