Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Republicans on the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Tuesday released their long-awaited report about what exactly happened the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack in the Libyan city that resulted in the deaths of four Americans. According to the report, no new evidence of wrongdoing or shortcomings on the part of Hillary Clinton were uncovered. Investigators also affirmed that U.S. military forces could not have reached Benghazi in time to save the four Americans. They also said the military was not prepared enough to respond to such attacks, and accused the Obama administration of changing its narrative after the attack, “rather than tell[ing] the American people the truth and increas[ing] the risk of losing an election.”
The two-year investigation's findings span 800 pages in a document prepared by the House Select Committee. The report describes rapidly worsening security in Libya and insufficient resources in the months leading up to the attack. Clinton has said she was aware of dangers in the country but that “there was no actionable intelligence” to suggest a planned attack was in motion. The report contends that intelligence suggested an attack and that Clinton should have understood those risks. The report is said to describe how U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was at the U.S. compound with only two State Department bodyguards that night, despite the fact that British diplomats had evacuated the area months earlier. The report contends that confusing orders from Pentagon and State Department officials over whether Marines should wear military uniforms or civilian attire created part of a deadly delay from responders. While forces prepared to deploy, according to one commander, “during the course of three hours, he and his Marines changed in and out of their uniforms four times.”
Clinton said on Tuesday that the method by which the committee released the report was evidence that "Republican members are clearly seeking to avoid any fact-checking of their discredited conspiracy theories." She wrote in a statement: "After more than two years and more than $7 million in taxpayer funds, the Committee report has not found anything to contradict the conclusions of the multiple, earlier investigations."