WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks said Wednesday that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy "screwed up" when he suggested the probe was useful in driving down Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's poll numbers.
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Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina told cable channel MSNBC that McCarthy, the leading candidate to be the next House speaker, has apologized.
"Kevin has apologized as profusely as a human being can apologize," Gowdy said. "What I tell folks back home is I don't care how many time you put an earpiece in your ear and looked into a camera, you still screw up, and Kevin screwed up."
McCarthy boasted last week in a Fox News interview that the panel could take credit for Clinton's diminished public standing and questions about her trustworthiness.
McCarthy has retracted the comments and said he regretted them. Addressing the issue anew Wednesday, he told reporters that "I could have been more clear" in the initial comments.
"Don't use politics to try to change this around. ... Let's be very clear: Benghazi's not political," McCarthy said. "It was created for one purpose and one purpose only, to find the truth on behalf of the families of the four dead Americans. Period."
Outgoing Speaker John Boehner, appearing with McCarthy at a news conference, rose to his deputy's defense.
"There's not one American who in the course of their lifetime wouldn't rather have the opportunity to say words over again. There's not one American that hasn't had this experience," Boehner said.
The committee "is about what happened before, during and after a terrorist attack in Libya where four Americans died," Boehner said. "The American people deserve the truth about what happened, period."
Later in the day, the House rejected a Democratic motion led by Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York to abolish the Benghazi committee. On a party-line vote of 240-183, Republicans tabled the bid, prevailing in keeping the panel.
But McCarthy's initial remarks gave Democrats reason to go after the committee ahead of an appearance by Clinton before the panel Oct. 22. Clinton herself is now using the remarks in a campaign ad. The fracas also hurt McCarthy's campaign for speaker ahead of today's secret-ballot elections, which will be followed by a full House vote Oct. 29. Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Daniel Webster of Florida have announced their intentions to challenge McCarthy for the spot.
The backing of the House Freedom Caucus, which includes almost 40 conservative Republicans, could be pivotal when the full House votes for speaker.
"We have every intention of voting together tomorrow and on the floor," said Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Jordan and Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas said caucus members' votes on Oct. 29 will depend on how the Republican nominee handles issues in the next several weeks including a government spending bill, efforts to revive the Export-Import Bank, the need to raise the debt limit and a highway spending bill. Many conservative Republicans oppose the Export-Import Bank and have sought to impose policy conditions on government spending or raising the debt limit.
Jordan said leaders should demand deficit reduction as the price of a debt-ceiling increase and stand firm. "We can win this," he said.
Caucus members also want the next speaker to allow more amendments to be offered to legislation on the House floor. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said the Republican nominee must provide a list of internal rules changes before the Oct. 29 vote or risk being opposed by the caucus.
Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press and by Billy House, Erik Wasson, Terrence Dopp and Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/08/2015