Benghazi report faults security; no new Clinton allegations

FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2015 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional security at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, according to Democrats on a select House panel who absolved the former secretary of state and the U.S. military of wrongdoing in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attacks. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2015 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Clinton never personally denied any requests from diplomats for additional security at the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, according to Democrats on a select House panel who absolved the former secretary of state and the U.S. military of wrongdoing in the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attacks. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Benghazi Committee harshly faulted the Obama administration Tuesday for lax security and a slow response to the deadly 2012 attacks at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya. But they produced no new allegations about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The attacks, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, have been repeatedly cited by Republicans as a serious failure by the administration and by Clinton, who now is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.

But the committee's 800-page report, released by Republican members, offered no "smoking gun" about Clinton's role. Rep. Trey Gowdy, the panel's chairman, has repeatedly said the report was not aimed at her, though Democrats have accused the committee's Republican majority of targeting her throughout.

The report from the two-year, $7 million investigation severely criticizes the military, CIA and administration officials for their response as the attacks unfolded the night of Sept. 11, 2012, and their subsequent explanation to the American people.

Eight hours after the two assaults began, "Not a single wheel of a single U.S. (military) asset had turned toward Libya," Gowdy, R-S.C.., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. "Think about that for a second."

The Libya attacks became immediate political fodder, given their timing in the weeks before Obama's re-election, and that has not abated despite seven previous investigations. There has been finger-pointing on both sides over security at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi and whether the White House initially tried to portray the assault as a protest over an offensive, anti-Muslim video, instead of a calculated terrorist attack.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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