President Obama's pick to head the CIA was involved in crafting controversial talking points about last year's attack in Benghazi, Republicans said Tuesday after viewing intelligence documents.
Lawmakers had vowed to block John Brennan's nomination unless they got to see internal communications about how to describe the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Several said the email chain of several pages, which they'd been seeking for months, doesn't change how they plan to vote either way.
“Brennan was involved,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice-Chairman Saxby Chambliss
Clarence (Saxby) Saxby ChamblissFight for Senate majority boils down to Georgia Lobbying world GOP lobbyist tapped for White House legislative affairs MORE (R-Ga.) said after the briefing. “It's pretty obvious what happened.”
“At the end of the day it should have been pretty easy to determine who made the changes and what changes were made.”
He described an “extensive, bureaucratic and frankly unnecessary process” that led to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations publicly linking the attack to a peaceful protest gone awry. Republicans have accused the White House of twisting the talking points to avoid harming Obama's national security reputation ahead of the November elections.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel FeinsteinThe Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Congress moves to avert shutdown as virus talks stall again Durbin to become top Democrat on Judiciary panel, keep No. 2 spot Durbin's fate unclear after rule change vote sparks disarray MORE (D-Calif.), the panel's chairwoman, said Brennan's involvement was “small” and should play no part in his confirmation. The committee is scheduled to vote Thursday now that members have seen the documents.
Several lawmakers said they still had concerns.
“It did not alleviate my concerns,” said Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho), who has said he'd vote against Brennan because of accusations that he leaked damaging national security information to the media.
“I wouldn't use the word alleviate,” said Sen. Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio RubioCNN's Harwood: Republicans would 'go smack their moms in the face' if Trump ordered them to Lara Trump leading Republicans in 2022 North Carolina Senate poll The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - So many questions about COVID-19 vaccines MORE (R-Fla.). “I think it raises other questions with regard to process. But we may have more to say about that in the next couple days.”
“I still have many concerns and believe there's still gaps in the information,” said Sen. Susan Collins
Susan Margaret CollinsGOP senator blocks Smithsonian Latino, women's history museums Bipartisan group unveils new details on COVID-19 relief measure Democratic senators push for ,200 direct payments in new coronavirus relief package MORE (R-Maine).
“The information today is unrelated to my personal decision on Brennan,” she said. She is expected to vote to confirm.
Sen. Richard Burr
Richard Mauze BurrLara Trump leading Republicans in 2022 North Carolina Senate poll Rep. Mark Walker announces Senate bid in North Carolina North Carolina — still purple but up for grabs MORE (R-N.C.) said he didn't think the administration misled anyone with its talking points but that many other questions about the events of last September remain.
“We've got a lot more documents and requests to be fulfilled,” he said. “It answers a lot, if not all, of the questions that the committee from an oversight standpoint. This only related to talking points and there's a tremendous amount more documents that deal with the days leading up to and the day preceding Benghazi.”
Jeremy Herb contributed