WEBVTT - Benghazi: Episode 6 - Radicals 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:28.951 Pushkin previously on Fiasco. 0:00:30.991 --> 0:00:34.551 There were some mysteries embedded in Benghazi that needed to 0:00:34.591 --> 0:00:36.351 be answered, so that gave it legs. 0:00:36.511 --> 0:00:40.751 A number of conservative media outlets were particularly gender. 0:00:40.591 --> 0:00:42.870 Because you never knew what would get traction. 0:00:42.790 --> 0:00:44.671 Who told the military to stand down? 0:00:45.111 --> 0:00:47.351 Where in the world is Hillary Clinton? 0:00:47.510 --> 0:00:50.510 What's her legacy going to be? Benghazi? 0:00:56.871 --> 0:00:59.671 This is the final episode of our season on Benghazi. 0:01:00.311 --> 0:01:03.231 But before we get into how the story ended, I 0:01:03.271 --> 0:01:05.191 want to stop for a second and dwell on a 0:01:05.271 --> 0:01:08.311 question that so far we've only come at sideways. 0:01:10.031 --> 0:01:11.071 Actually a two part question. 0:01:12.191 --> 0:01:15.671 First, what did the people who were outraged about Benghazi 0:01:15.871 --> 0:01:20.431 actually think Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama did wrong? And second, 0:01:20.951 --> 0:01:22.751 what did they think their motivations were. 0:01:23.031 --> 0:01:25.631 There's no question Hillary lied and people died. 0:01:25.751 --> 0:01:28.191 I don't mean to sound defensive on behalf of Clinton 0:01:28.311 --> 0:01:31.991 or Obama. I just think it's surprisingly hard to pin 0:01:32.071 --> 0:01:36.191 this down given how many specific accusations were leveled against 0:01:36.191 --> 0:01:36.911 the administration. 0:01:37.151 --> 0:01:40.071 So the administration knew in real time there wasn't a mob. 0:01:40.231 --> 0:01:42.071 They knew in real time that this was a well 0:01:42.111 --> 0:01:43.031 coordinated attack. 0:01:43.111 --> 0:01:45.751 They absolutely lied to the American people from day one. 0:01:45.791 --> 0:01:47.871 The White House can sign those people to death. 0:01:48.511 --> 0:01:50.991 What I've been trying to figure out is how did 0:01:51.031 --> 0:01:55.191 all these accusations fit together, what did they add up to? 0:01:56.591 --> 0:01:59.111 And the closest I've come to an answer to a 0:01:59.231 --> 0:02:02.471 unified theory of the Benghazi scandal is that, at a 0:02:02.511 --> 0:02:06.871 basic level, many Republicans saw the attack as a repudiation 0:02:07.071 --> 0:02:09.271 of a worldview they had long despised. 0:02:10.071 --> 0:02:12.991 Son's problems with Benghazi make a bigger point about his 0:02:13.071 --> 0:02:13.991 approach to governor. 0:02:14.111 --> 0:02:17.231 Benghazi is the result of the failures of the Obama 0:02:17.270 --> 0:02:18.550 Clinton foreign policy. 0:02:19.231 --> 0:02:22.911 The argument was that Obama and Clinton were idealistic liberals 0:02:22.991 --> 0:02:26.791 who didn't understand the threat of Islamic extremism. They thought 0:02:26.831 --> 0:02:29.511 America could solve its problems in the Arab world with 0:02:29.591 --> 0:02:32.831 diplomacy and deference and leading from behind. 0:02:33.311 --> 0:02:35.511 Maybe they wanted to believe the lie governed by the 0:02:35.551 --> 0:02:38.791 ideology of hurt feelings. It's hipster diplomacy at its worst. 0:02:38.871 --> 0:02:42.071 If you're reluctant to call terrorism by its name, can 0:02:42.111 --> 0:02:43.751 you ever defeat the terrorists? 0:02:44.391 --> 0:02:48.631 Benghazi was proof that Obama, Clinton and their fellow liberals 0:02:48.671 --> 0:02:51.991 were fundamentally wrong about America's place in the world. 0:02:52.231 --> 0:02:54.671 The reason we have Libya is the obama mesress of 0:02:54.751 --> 0:02:57.031 terrorism has expanded all across the region. 0:02:57.071 --> 0:03:00.550 Now, mister President, it's your effeckless weak foreign policy that 0:03:00.711 --> 0:03:03.871 is creating a danger zone for all Americans. 0:03:04.591 --> 0:03:07.671 At best, the Democrats had gotten people killed with their 0:03:07.751 --> 0:03:12.550 naivete and at worst, they had deliberately prioritized their liberal 0:03:12.671 --> 0:03:14.991 values over protecting American lives. 0:03:15.551 --> 0:03:18.831 Bad things happen when you avoid reality, and unfortunately we've. 0:03:18.671 --> 0:03:19.191 Just seen that. 0:03:22.951 --> 0:03:26.471 It was a powerful story. But what strikes me is 0:03:26.551 --> 0:03:29.871 just how far the debate around Benghazi ended up drifting, 0:03:30.671 --> 0:03:34.391 how baroque and esoteric it got, Because it seems clear 0:03:34.471 --> 0:03:38.071 the scandal wasn't really about a foreign policy disagreement between 0:03:38.151 --> 0:03:42.031 left and right. It was about something deeper and also 0:03:42.351 --> 0:03:49.031 more shallow, which is why in this season finale, I 0:03:49.071 --> 0:03:52.191 want to tell you about two very different investigations into 0:03:52.271 --> 0:03:56.711 Benghazi that were carried out in parallel. One resulted in 0:03:56.751 --> 0:03:59.951 a trial in which a Libyan militia leader was accused 0:03:59.991 --> 0:04:04.511 of orchestrating the murder of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, 0:04:04.671 --> 0:04:12.951 and Tyrone Woods. The other ended with emails I'm Leon 0:04:13.031 --> 0:04:17.991 Nafok from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries this is fiasco, 0:04:18.391 --> 0:04:19.311 ben Gazi. 0:04:20.031 --> 0:04:23.390 The word Benghazi the ultimate roar shock test. 0:04:23.431 --> 0:04:26.551 Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, but we put together 0:04:26.631 --> 0:04:28.671 a Benghazi Special Committee. 0:04:28.671 --> 0:04:32.231 Congressional investigations are partisan in nature. Their sole purpose is 0:04:32.271 --> 0:04:33.311 to damage your opponent. 0:04:33.431 --> 0:04:35.831 They actually printed out tickets. It was like tickets to 0:04:35.871 --> 0:04:36.591 the circus. 0:04:36.711 --> 0:04:39.431 What is the psychic told that takes Hillary crooked? 0:04:39.551 --> 0:04:40.231 Hillary crooked? 0:04:40.391 --> 0:04:40.991 So crooked? 0:04:43.631 --> 0:04:48.751 Episode six, our season finale, Radicals, in which everyone has 0:04:48.791 --> 0:04:54.711 their own reasons for wanting the truth about Benghazi. We'll 0:04:54.751 --> 0:04:55.351 be right back. 0:05:00.191 --> 0:05:02.471 It's funny when you see it for the first time 0:05:03.591 --> 0:05:07.190 and then you see it for the thousandth time, you 0:05:07.271 --> 0:05:09.751 cannot believe how much you missed. 0:05:09.551 --> 0:05:13.911 The first Julianne Himmelstein watched the surveillance footage from the 0:05:13.951 --> 0:05:16.991 Benghazi compound over and over and over. 0:05:17.471 --> 0:05:21.551 It was grainy, it was black and white. But that 0:05:21.711 --> 0:05:23.671 was the nugget that we started from. 0:05:24.071 --> 0:05:26.951 At the time of the attack, Himmelstein was an assistant 0:05:27.111 --> 0:05:29.911 US attorney, and she was assigned by the Department of 0:05:30.071 --> 0:05:32.871 Justice to serve as one of the lead federal prosecutors 0:05:32.951 --> 0:05:35.351 in charge of the criminal inquiry into BEng Ghazi. 0:05:36.151 --> 0:05:39.431 We really were investigating it as a pure and simple 0:05:40.351 --> 0:05:42.471 murder case and terrorist attack. 0:05:43.031 --> 0:05:46.871 Himmelstein's partner and the investigation was an FBI counter terrorism 0:05:46.911 --> 0:05:48.431 specialist named Mike Clark. 0:05:48.951 --> 0:05:49.671 You know, we got the. 0:05:49.591 --> 0:05:52.991 Call on September eleventh to the normal channels, and immediately 0:05:53.031 --> 0:05:54.591 I was notified that I was going to be the 0:05:54.871 --> 0:05:57.831 lead case agent. We got our team together, and we deployed. 0:05:59.751 --> 0:06:03.151 On the night of September twelfth. The diplomatic security agents 0:06:03.151 --> 0:06:05.871 and CIA contractors who had been in Benghazi during the 0:06:05.911 --> 0:06:10.551 attack were in Germany, having just evacuated from Libya. Clark 0:06:10.591 --> 0:06:13.191 and his team needed to debrief them about what they'd seen. 0:06:13.951 --> 0:06:16.951 My first responsibility was to take my team to our 0:06:17.031 --> 0:06:21.070 forward operating base in Germany and interview the Americans that 0:06:21.111 --> 0:06:24.551 had survived the attack, mostly the DSS agents that were 0:06:24.551 --> 0:06:25.630 there on scene. 0:06:26.151 --> 0:06:29.630 Afterwards, Clark flew to Libya to personally pick up the 0:06:29.631 --> 0:06:31.991 surveillance footage that had been pulled off a dozen or 0:06:32.031 --> 0:06:35.911 so cameras set up around the Benghazi compound. Back in 0:06:35.911 --> 0:06:39.791 the United States, Clark and Himmelstein watched the videos together, 0:06:40.311 --> 0:06:42.991 sitting in a small room at an FBI office crowded 0:06:43.031 --> 0:06:46.591 with boxes and furniture. They would stop every few seconds, 0:06:46.711 --> 0:06:51.031 then rewind, then stop again, then rewind again. They would 0:06:51.071 --> 0:06:54.111 do this for hours and eventually years. 0:06:55.231 --> 0:06:58.391 When you first look at those videos and you don't 0:06:58.391 --> 0:07:00.791 know who the people are, it does look like a 0:07:00.871 --> 0:07:04.711 chaotic mess. But once you start being able to identify 0:07:04.871 --> 0:07:08.391 who the people are, what groups they belonged to, then 0:07:08.391 --> 0:07:09.911 it becomes clearer and clear. 0:07:11.031 --> 0:07:14.151 For Clark and Himmelstein, identifying the people in the video 0:07:14.351 --> 0:07:17.871 was the top priority. They received some promising leads from 0:07:17.911 --> 0:07:21.071 intelligence reports, but in order to build a case, they 0:07:21.111 --> 0:07:23.951 needed to connect that intelligence to the nameless individuals in 0:07:23.991 --> 0:07:28.951 the footage, and to do that, Himmelstein and Clark needed witnesses. 0:07:29.311 --> 0:07:31.751 The only way that we were able to identify anyone 0:07:31.951 --> 0:07:38.271 is to talk to people in Benghazi who knew them. 0:07:38.831 --> 0:07:43.271 It was hard to convince people who were there to 0:07:43.471 --> 0:07:48.551 talk to the FBI. There was an incredible witness who 0:07:48.631 --> 0:07:52.071 was in Benghazi and present on the night of the attack, 0:07:52.431 --> 0:07:55.311 very very young man. He was the first one to 0:07:55.351 --> 0:07:56.591 identify Abu Katala. 0:08:02.311 --> 0:08:06.671 Ahmed Abu Katala was a construction worker by trade. During 0:08:06.671 --> 0:08:09.951 the Libyan Revolution, he had taken up arms against muamargadaf 0:08:10.511 --> 0:08:14.071 and raised a small battalion in Benghazi called Obeda Benjarra. 0:08:15.231 --> 0:08:19.671 They were adherents to the ultra conservative solaphist interpretation of Islam, 0:08:20.111 --> 0:08:23.071 and their vision for Libya involved ridding the country of 0:08:23.111 --> 0:08:26.911 every imperialist foreign power, particularly the Americans. 0:08:27.431 --> 0:08:30.831 When you talk about Ubeeda Benjarrah and Abu Katala, you're 0:08:30.871 --> 0:08:34.670 talking about an extremist militia that doesn't believe that any 0:08:34.790 --> 0:08:39.791 government entity should be involved in anything involving Libya. He 0:08:39.871 --> 0:08:42.910 wanted Libya to be governed under strict Sharia law. 0:08:43.631 --> 0:08:46.790 Investigators learned that Abu Katala had met many of his 0:08:46.871 --> 0:08:50.790 compatriots in Obeeda Benjarra during the Gaddafi regime when they 0:08:50.790 --> 0:08:54.310 were imprisoned together at Abu Salim, the prison where more 0:08:54.351 --> 0:08:56.831 than a thousand inmates were killed in a massacre in 0:08:56.910 --> 0:08:57.871 nineteen ninety six. 0:08:58.631 --> 0:09:02.670 Not swear many of them formed their friendships and relationships 0:09:03.030 --> 0:09:06.271 and it was just, you know, just a horrible environment, 0:09:06.471 --> 0:09:09.111 just the worst that you could ever think of. And 0:09:09.231 --> 0:09:13.030 there was torture, and actually Abu Katala was tortured. 0:09:13.871 --> 0:09:17.271 At some point. Abu Katala affiliated himself with a hard 0:09:17.310 --> 0:09:21.751 line Islamist militia called Ansar al Sharia. A few months 0:09:21.790 --> 0:09:25.030 before the attack on the US compound, he and about 0:09:25.030 --> 0:09:28.030 two hundred other members of Asar Al Sharia took part 0:09:28.070 --> 0:09:31.151 in a rally through Benghazi intended to show their force. 0:09:31.590 --> 0:09:34.310 The rebel fighters from Libya's revolution had brought their weapons 0:09:34.310 --> 0:09:37.871 along while demanding that their country imposed Sharia Islamic law. 0:09:39.111 --> 0:09:43.470 They drove trucks brandishing artillery and loudly condemned the coming elections, 0:09:44.310 --> 0:09:46.271 Libya's first since the fall of Gaddafi. 0:09:46.910 --> 0:09:47.670 We need. 0:09:50.271 --> 0:09:55.631 To kill them, ko Kofan, Yeah, to kill the infidels. 0:09:55.710 --> 0:09:55.910 Yes. 0:09:56.030 --> 0:09:56.271 Yes. 0:09:57.471 --> 0:10:01.151 It didn't take long for investigators to start circling Abu Katala. 0:10:01.830 --> 0:10:04.470 Libyan witnesses told the FBI that they had seen him 0:10:04.511 --> 0:10:08.231 directing fighters during the attack, and sources from various local 0:10:08.231 --> 0:10:11.550 militias said Abu Katala had approached them several weeks earlier 0:10:12.070 --> 0:10:14.631 trying to acquire weapons and vehicles. 0:10:15.111 --> 0:10:20.990 He was also discreetly and diplomatically in some cases, going 0:10:21.070 --> 0:10:27.151 to other more mainstream militia leaders and basically telling them, 0:10:27.231 --> 0:10:29.790 you know, it would be a bad idea to interfere 0:10:29.950 --> 0:10:32.751 with our plans should something happen. 0:10:33.471 --> 0:10:36.910 The witness interviews that generated these details were hard won. 0:10:38.111 --> 0:10:40.871 People in Libya were scared of Abu Katala. 0:10:41.471 --> 0:10:43.871 Those are the people that made the case. Some of 0:10:43.910 --> 0:10:46.790 them paid the ultimate sacrifice. We had witnesses that were killed. 0:10:47.590 --> 0:10:50.831 We had witnesses that their houses were burned to the 0:10:50.830 --> 0:10:53.230 ground by the extremists. Once they found out that they 0:10:53.231 --> 0:10:56.310 were speaking out against Abu Katala and other militia groups, 0:10:56.351 --> 0:10:59.550 extremist groups, they risked everything to cooperate with the FBI 0:10:59.590 --> 0:11:02.351 because they realized how dangerous the extremists were. 0:11:08.070 --> 0:11:10.830 A Libyan militia leader who has the suspected ringleader behind 0:11:10.830 --> 0:11:13.511 the deadly attack on the US consul in Benghazi is 0:11:13.550 --> 0:11:16.630 basically thumbing his nose at American and Libyan investigators. 0:11:16.751 --> 0:11:21.110 Abu Katala was not exactly keeping a low profile. In October, 0:11:21.271 --> 0:11:23.670 just a few weeks after the attack, he even made 0:11:23.751 --> 0:11:25.711 himself available to the American media. 0:11:25.991 --> 0:11:29.430 His name is Ahmed Abu Katawa. He socialized with journalists 0:11:29.511 --> 0:11:31.670 last night at a hotel in Benghazi. 0:11:31.910 --> 0:11:34.910 In meetings with reporters from The New York Times, CNN, 0:11:35.030 --> 0:11:38.351 and Fox News, Abu Katala spoke in a tone that 0:11:38.430 --> 0:11:42.070 was described as taunting. During his time's interview, he sipped 0:11:42.070 --> 0:11:44.591 on a strawberry frape could have been a ringleader. 0:11:44.710 --> 0:11:48.550 Maybe a suspect may be just bragging about his contentions, 0:11:48.550 --> 0:11:52.230 but his walking around free as a bird in Benghazi 0:11:53.231 --> 0:11:54.590 a couple of days ago and talking. 0:11:54.430 --> 0:11:57.191 To the New York Times, Abu Katala denied playing a 0:11:57.271 --> 0:12:00.351 role in the attack, but he made no secret of 0:12:00.391 --> 0:12:03.631 his contempt for the American government and made clear that 0:12:03.710 --> 0:12:08.231 he wanted the US out of Libya. According to Mike Clark, 0:12:08.590 --> 0:12:12.790 the FBI agent leading the instigation, Abu Katala was also 0:12:12.830 --> 0:12:16.271 convinced that the US mission compound in Benghazi was not 0:12:16.471 --> 0:12:18.030 what the United States had claimed. 0:12:18.310 --> 0:12:22.631 Abu Katala never believed that the Special Mission was an embassy, 0:12:22.830 --> 0:12:26.391 was a diplomatic facility. He always believed, even to the 0:12:26.471 --> 0:12:29.751 time when I interviewed him, that it was a spy 0:12:29.871 --> 0:12:33.830 base and it was a front for illegal American activities. 0:12:34.271 --> 0:12:37.831 In this respect, Abu Katala had something in common with 0:12:37.871 --> 0:12:41.591 a certain subset of Americans, whether he knew it or not. 0:12:41.991 --> 0:12:45.391 There was a theory popular in conservative media that Chris 0:12:45.391 --> 0:12:49.111 Stevens's real reason for being in Benghazi was to broker 0:12:49.190 --> 0:12:53.070 a secret weapons deal with Turkey. The theory didn't exactly 0:12:53.111 --> 0:12:56.151 say the Benghazi mission was a CIA front, but it 0:12:56.231 --> 0:13:00.751 suggested Stevens was not acting as an average ambassador. In 0:13:00.790 --> 0:13:05.670 any event, Abu Katala thought every American in Benghazi was suspect. 0:13:09.391 --> 0:13:13.111 While the FBA eyes slowly developed their case, Republicans in 0:13:13.151 --> 0:13:16.790 Congress were focused on a different investigation, a bunch of 0:13:16.830 --> 0:13:20.991 them actually, all taking place on Capitol Hill, where multiple 0:13:20.991 --> 0:13:23.950 House committees were looking into various aspects of the attack. 0:13:24.391 --> 0:13:27.430 I mean five separate House committees are looking into this thing. 0:13:27.471 --> 0:13:31.311 Four or five different committees that are looking into ben Ghazi. 0:13:31.910 --> 0:13:35.910 Each committee had its own jurisdiction, So, for example, the 0:13:35.950 --> 0:13:39.151 House Armed Services Committee was focused on the Pentagon's response 0:13:39.190 --> 0:13:42.310 to the attack, and the Foreign Affairs Committee was focused 0:13:42.351 --> 0:13:45.751 on the State Department. The broadest scope belonged to the 0:13:45.790 --> 0:13:48.670 House Oversight Committee. You heard about their work in our 0:13:48.670 --> 0:13:52.110 previous episode. They were the ones who interviewed the whistleblowers 0:13:52.310 --> 0:13:54.670 and asked repeatedly about a stand down order. 0:13:55.030 --> 0:13:58.111 How did the personnel react at being told to stand down? 0:13:59.030 --> 0:14:02.351 They were furious, he said, this is the first time. 0:14:02.511 --> 0:14:05.951 Suzanne Saxmon Grooms was the Chief council for the Oversight 0:14:05.991 --> 0:14:10.910 Committee's Democratic staff. In that capacity, she worked under Congressman 0:14:10.950 --> 0:14:12.550 Elijah Cummings, so. 0:14:12.590 --> 0:14:16.710 The Oversight Committee was called back in immediately after the 0:14:16.790 --> 0:14:20.311 attacks and had its first hearing in October of twenty twelve, 0:14:20.671 --> 0:14:25.511 and then continued to heavily and actively aggressively investigate the 0:14:25.511 --> 0:14:28.111 Bengazi attacks for that full year and a half. 0:14:28.631 --> 0:14:32.231 Between the Oversight Committee investigation and all the others, the 0:14:32.271 --> 0:14:35.311 Bengazi attack was being scrutinized from every angle. 0:14:35.631 --> 0:14:39.031 The Committee's interviewed dozens of witnesses, They reviewed tens of 0:14:39.071 --> 0:14:41.311 thousands of pages of documents, There was a lot of 0:14:41.351 --> 0:14:45.831 classified interviews and briefings, and there were a number of 0:14:45.830 --> 0:14:46.671 public hearings. 0:14:48.031 --> 0:14:51.911 By mid twenty thirteen, polls were showing that Benghazi was 0:14:51.951 --> 0:14:55.551 being processed completely differently by Democrats and Republicans. 0:14:55.911 --> 0:14:59.751 The ultimate roar shock test in American politics today maybe 0:14:59.791 --> 0:15:01.271 the word Benghazi. 0:15:01.710 --> 0:15:04.831 For one thing, Republicans were just much more interested in 0:15:04.830 --> 0:15:08.391 the story. According to a Pew survey, they were twice 0:15:08.431 --> 0:15:11.351 as likely as Democrats to be followed Benghazi in the news. 0:15:12.031 --> 0:15:15.551 The same survey showed that among Democrats, sixty percent thought 0:15:15.551 --> 0:15:19.911 Republicans had gone too far with the investigations. Among Republicans, 0:15:20.271 --> 0:15:23.671 sixty five percent said the investigations had been handled properly. 0:15:24.631 --> 0:15:28.111 You could see a corresponding schism on Capitol Hill, where 0:15:28.111 --> 0:15:32.111 Democratic lawmakers were arguing that Benghazi was a manufactured scandal 0:15:32.191 --> 0:15:34.631 that Republicans were dragging out for political gain. 0:15:35.031 --> 0:15:39.351 There's an obsession with Benghazi Hillary Clinton that some of 0:15:39.351 --> 0:15:41.631 my Republican colleagues have in the House. 0:15:41.751 --> 0:15:44.711 While Republicans insisted that the real truth had still not 0:15:44.911 --> 0:15:45.391 come out. 0:15:45.830 --> 0:15:49.151 You know, I think the Benghazi issue is quite significant 0:15:49.231 --> 0:15:52.671 because we still don't have truth in regards to what 0:15:52.710 --> 0:15:53.231 happened there. 0:15:53.271 --> 0:15:54.951 And that was part of the message of the Tea Party. 0:15:55.031 --> 0:15:58.230 Hey, everybody leading the charge on the Republican side was 0:15:58.271 --> 0:16:01.630 a cohort of arch conservatives who felt the existing committees 0:16:01.710 --> 0:16:05.951 weren't being aggressive enough about Benghazi. That included members of 0:16:05.991 --> 0:16:09.351 the Tea Party, a flamboyant, anger fueled wing of the 0:16:09.391 --> 0:16:13.391 GOP that rose to power during Obama's first term. What 0:16:13.511 --> 0:16:17.391 they wanted was a new investigation into Benghazi, a special 0:16:17.431 --> 0:16:20.110 select committee that would find the smoking gun that had 0:16:20.151 --> 0:16:28.111 so far eluded Congress. More than anything, the desire for 0:16:28.111 --> 0:16:30.311 a select committee was about the promise of a less 0:16:30.351 --> 0:16:34.551 restrained approach than Republicans had been taking thus far. Part 0:16:34.551 --> 0:16:37.590 of the appeal was symbolic. Select committees have been created 0:16:37.590 --> 0:16:41.230 to investigate name brand scandals like Watergate and Iran Contra, 0:16:42.111 --> 0:16:45.671 so it was only right that Benghazi should get one too. 0:16:45.791 --> 0:16:48.871 But there was a practical appeal as well. The select 0:16:48.871 --> 0:16:52.911 committee wouldn't be limited by jurisdiction and could therefore investigate 0:16:52.991 --> 0:16:54.911 any aspect of the scandal they wanted. 0:16:56.031 --> 0:17:00.191 There were Republicans who believed that the people leading these 0:17:00.271 --> 0:17:05.910 other investigations were not sufficiently bloodthirsty. 0:17:05.951 --> 0:17:09.391 This is Tim alberta author of a book called American 0:17:09.471 --> 0:17:11.911 Carnage about the recent history of the GOP. 0:17:12.671 --> 0:17:16.231 They believed desperate times call for desperate measures. And we've 0:17:16.271 --> 0:17:19.871 got this incident that left four Americans dead, and we 0:17:19.951 --> 0:17:23.590 have the likely nominee of the Democratic Party right at 0:17:23.590 --> 0:17:25.551 the center of it, and nobody has even laid a 0:17:25.590 --> 0:17:28.710 glove on her yet. And so all of these fact 0:17:28.751 --> 0:17:32.231 finding missions that are playing by the rules of Congress 0:17:32.751 --> 0:17:35.870 are all fine and well, but isn't it about time 0:17:36.431 --> 0:17:38.951 that we tested some of those boundaries and that maybe 0:17:38.951 --> 0:17:41.031 we broke a couple of those rules. 0:17:42.271 --> 0:17:44.791 Calls for the formation of a select committee began just 0:17:44.830 --> 0:17:48.630 a few months after the attack, but the drumbeat got louder. 0:17:48.671 --> 0:17:52.991 Over the course of twenty thirteen. That summer, a freshman 0:17:53.071 --> 0:17:56.151 congressman from Texas announced that he had collected one thousand 0:17:56.191 --> 0:18:00.471 signatures from Special Ops veterans in support of a select committee. 0:18:00.590 --> 0:18:03.431 The congressman planned to unveil the signatures in the form 0:18:03.471 --> 0:18:06.031 of a sixty foot long scroll that he wanted to 0:18:06.071 --> 0:18:08.111 spread over the Capitol steps. 0:18:08.031 --> 0:18:10.471 The sixty foot scroll at noon time. 0:18:10.551 --> 0:18:12.951 I do believe it's been signed by a thousand Special 0:18:12.951 --> 0:18:13.751 Offs veterans. 0:18:14.311 --> 0:18:15.311 Well, this happened today. 0:18:15.311 --> 0:18:17.551 You're getting resistance on that from Capitol police. 0:18:17.870 --> 0:18:20.430 Well, the police say that we're not allowed to do it, 0:18:20.471 --> 0:18:22.031 but we're working with him. Right now, we're going to 0:18:22.390 --> 0:18:26.630 unfurrel the scroll and just demanding that we have a 0:18:26.630 --> 0:18:29.910 special investigation. We owe it to the survivors. We also 0:18:29.951 --> 0:18:31.870 owe it to the victims that were killed there. 0:18:32.311 --> 0:18:35.590 That more, The power to appoint a select committee on 0:18:35.671 --> 0:18:40.470 Benghazi lay with one man, House Speaker John Bayner. The 0:18:40.551 --> 0:18:43.071 surly had strong congressman from Ohio. 0:18:43.311 --> 0:18:45.151 What you see is what you get. I know who 0:18:45.191 --> 0:18:45.471 I am. 0:18:45.551 --> 0:18:48.431 I'm comfortable in my own skin, and everybody who knows 0:18:48.511 --> 0:18:51.390 me knows that I get emotional about certain things. Trying 0:18:51.390 --> 0:18:53.710 to catch my breath, so I don't refer to this 0:18:54.271 --> 0:18:58.231 as a chicken crap, all right? What this is bensense? 0:18:59.231 --> 0:18:59.631 All right. 0:19:00.671 --> 0:19:03.071 Bayner had a history as something of a renegade in 0:19:03.110 --> 0:19:07.031 the GOP, but after twenty years in the House he 0:19:07.110 --> 0:19:11.151 had evolved into a quintessential establishment figure, someone who would 0:19:11.150 --> 0:19:13.630 go on to support Jeb Bush and John Kasick in 0:19:13.671 --> 0:19:16.711 the Republican primary over their more erratic challengers. 0:19:17.511 --> 0:19:21.630 The term institutionalist gets thrown around a lot in Congress, 0:19:21.830 --> 0:19:24.830 but there's really no one in Congress at this time 0:19:24.870 --> 0:19:27.471 who is more of an institutionalist than John Bayner. This 0:19:27.511 --> 0:19:31.590 is somebody who is really, really, sort of obsessed with 0:19:31.911 --> 0:19:35.670 the long term health and stability and credibility of the 0:19:35.791 --> 0:19:36.670 US Congress. 0:19:38.911 --> 0:19:41.991 Whatever anyone thinks about the Speaker of the House, John 0:19:42.031 --> 0:19:44.471 Bahner may have the toughest job in Washington. 0:19:44.830 --> 0:19:48.150 Though Baynor had initially celebrated the Tea Party wave, he 0:19:48.231 --> 0:19:51.311 quickly found himself at odds with the Republican Party's ascendant 0:19:51.350 --> 0:19:54.791 right flank, many of whom he regarded as politically immature 0:19:55.031 --> 0:19:56.671 and unserious about governing. 0:19:56.870 --> 0:19:59.671 His problem has been the rise of the Tea Party faction, 0:20:00.110 --> 0:20:03.870 the newly arrived and highly motivated members who do not 0:20:04.071 --> 0:20:07.191 go along or get along with the wishes of the leadership. 0:20:07.511 --> 0:20:11.791 And so John Baynor tied after time after time. Since 0:20:11.830 --> 0:20:15.190 he becomes speaker in January of twenty eleven, he's butting 0:20:15.271 --> 0:20:18.150 heads with the far right of his conference. 0:20:18.431 --> 0:20:21.430 While Bayner owes his speakership to the Tea Party, victories 0:20:21.471 --> 0:20:25.311 that put Republicans in charge, the Tea Parties headstrong confrontations 0:20:25.471 --> 0:20:28.271 put his leadership on the rocks repeatedly. 0:20:28.791 --> 0:20:32.471 They are just ready to light fires and lob bombs 0:20:32.791 --> 0:20:37.071 and sort of engage in these guerrilla tactics against not 0:20:37.110 --> 0:20:40.590 only the Obama administration, but more and more against members 0:20:40.630 --> 0:20:41.551 of their own party. 0:20:42.431 --> 0:20:46.670 The Tea Parties guerrilla tactics included pushing conspiracy based legislation 0:20:46.830 --> 0:20:50.710 that Bayner opposed, like a bill requiring presidential candidates to 0:20:50.791 --> 0:20:54.551 show their long form birth certificates. What do Obama and 0:20:54.630 --> 0:20:55.791 God have in common? 0:20:56.150 --> 0:20:58.670 Neither has a birth certificate. 0:20:58.191 --> 0:21:01.670 But this strikes of racism in the very least, he's foreign, 0:21:01.711 --> 0:21:03.271 he's alien, he's the other. 0:21:03.471 --> 0:21:06.910 Tea Party members also forced government shut down and tanked 0:21:06.951 --> 0:21:10.031 several of Bayer's carefully crafted compromises with the Obama way 0:21:10.110 --> 0:21:14.150 Ight House. On one occasion, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann demanded a 0:21:14.191 --> 0:21:17.111 spot on a powerful House committee and threatened to go 0:21:17.150 --> 0:21:19.911 on Sean Hannity's show to disparage Bayner if he didn't 0:21:19.911 --> 0:21:22.511 see her. This was par for the course for Tea 0:21:22.551 --> 0:21:25.671 Party members, who regularly used Fox News as a way 0:21:25.711 --> 0:21:29.311 to bypass Bayner's agenda and gain influence by talking directly 0:21:29.350 --> 0:21:33.390 to their base in private meetings. Bayner attempted to strong 0:21:33.471 --> 0:21:36.230 arm the renegades with little effect. He had a stern 0:21:36.311 --> 0:21:39.271 message for Tea Party or Bayner told them, get your 0:21:39.390 --> 0:21:40.271 ass in line. 0:21:40.350 --> 0:21:42.271 Don Bayner's a pissed off Speaker of the House. 0:21:44.150 --> 0:21:47.271 Bayner declined to be interviewed for this podcast, but Tim 0:21:47.311 --> 0:21:50.551 Alberta says the Speaker was uncomfortable with how the Republican 0:21:50.590 --> 0:21:54.590 Party was changing. At the same time, Alberta emphasizes that 0:21:54.590 --> 0:21:58.511 Bayner's discomfort wasn't about policy or ideology so much as 0:21:58.511 --> 0:22:02.311 tactics and temperament. Bayner saw himself as the adult in 0:22:02.350 --> 0:22:04.911 the room, and when he started getting pressure to form 0:22:04.951 --> 0:22:08.590 a special select committee to reinvestigate Benghazi, he bristled. 0:22:09.431 --> 0:22:12.590 What's really giving Bayner a great degree of heartburn is 0:22:12.711 --> 0:22:15.711 he's beginning at this point to appreciate what it is 0:22:16.110 --> 0:22:19.390 that these folks are really after. They're looking for the 0:22:19.431 --> 0:22:26.271 House of Representatives to do what traditionally a partisan opposition 0:22:26.471 --> 0:22:30.351 research firm would do, which is spend a whole lot 0:22:30.390 --> 0:22:31.991 of money and a whole lot of time and a 0:22:31.991 --> 0:22:35.071 whole lot of energy trying to dig up dirt on 0:22:35.150 --> 0:22:39.150 a particular subject. And for Bayner, that makes him extremely 0:22:39.231 --> 0:22:43.711 uncomfortable because he knows in his bones that that is inappropriate. 0:22:45.991 --> 0:22:50.431 On some level. Bayner's heartburn was about appearances. He had 0:22:50.431 --> 0:22:54.231 no problem with cutthroat political maneuvering. He just didn't want 0:22:54.271 --> 0:23:00.591 the Republican Party to look shameless. 0:23:09.711 --> 0:23:12.071 There are new developments on Benghazi. 0:23:12.191 --> 0:23:14.710 Some of the families of the four Americans killed, pressing 0:23:14.791 --> 0:23:17.871 House Speaker John Bayner to create what's called a select 0:23:17.911 --> 0:23:19.350 committee and investigate. 0:23:19.830 --> 0:23:22.950 By the spring of twenty fourteen, the pressure on Bayner 0:23:23.031 --> 0:23:26.150 to appoint a select committee was building. It was no 0:23:26.231 --> 0:23:29.830 longer just the zany, angry New Right calling out for it. 0:23:29.830 --> 0:23:32.031 It was all kinds of Republicans who were hearing from 0:23:32.110 --> 0:23:35.831