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Rep. Grayson files ethics complaint against Benghazi committee members McCarthy, Gowdy

Grayson accused Rep. Kevin McCarty, R-Calif., and Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., of using the committee to attack Hillary Clinton.

By Ed Adamczyk
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies during a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya,in 2013. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., filed an ethics complaint Wednesday, claiming the House Benghazi Committee is being used to damage Clinton's presidential bid. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies during a House Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the terrorist attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya,in 2013. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., filed an ethics complaint Wednesday, claiming the House Benghazi Committee is being used to damage Clinton's presidential bid. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., filed an ethics complaint against two Republican Congressmen Wednesday, accusing them of using the Benghazi Committee to attack Hillary Clinton.

The complaint claims Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the House committee investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya in which four Americans were killed, violated chamber rules and federal law by using the committee to smear then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her current presidential election campaign.

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McCarthy, on Sept. 29, noted in a television interview, "Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? We put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? 'Cause she is untrustable. But no one would've known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen."

Grayson, in a statement, commented, "The Benghazi Committee has been a political dog-and-pony show for its entire 17-month history. It has been clear even to casual observers that the purpose of the committee was never to investigate the tragic death of four Americans in a terrorist attack; it was to attack Hillary Clinton. I am asking OCE (Office of Congressional Ethics) to investigate how Reps. McCarthy and Gowdy misused $4.5 million of taxpayer money in an unscrupulous attempt to torpedo Secretary Hillary Clinton's campaign for president."

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He added that, as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he has read voluminous amounts of memos pertinent to the Benghazi attack, none of which offer any evidence Clinton's actions put American lives at risk.

In a television interview Wednesday, Grayson said, "It's very simple. You're not supposed to use taxpayer funds for a political witch hunt."

Wednesday, Democrats led by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., forced a vote on the floor of the House to vote later Wednesday on whether to abolish the Benghazi panel. Her resolution reads in part that the "misuse of official resources...brings discredit to the House."

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