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Gowdy slams Hanna's comments on Benghazi, Clinton panel

By Amy R. Connolly
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., right, leaves the Capitol building Oct. 9 after the final vote of the week before a Columbus Day recess, in Washington, D.C. Gowdy blasted fellow Republican Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., for saying the House Select Committee on Benghazi was created to smear former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., right, leaves the Capitol building Oct. 9 after the final vote of the week before a Columbus Day recess, in Washington, D.C. Gowdy blasted fellow Republican Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., for saying the House Select Committee on Benghazi was created to smear former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The head of the House Select Committee on Benghazi blasted a fellow Republican lawmaker for claiming the panel's investigation is a politically motivated attack on Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., rebuked fellow Republican Rep. Richard Hanna, of New York, who said the panel's investigation is "designed to go after" former Secretary of State Clinton. Gowdy said Hanna has "never asked for a briefing by the committee staff" and knows little about the work being done.

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"There are seven members of the Benghazi Committee who are intimately familiar with the work of the committee, the motives behind the work, and the results of that work. Congressman Hanna is not one of them," Gowdy said.

"Running investigations in a private, fact-centric way is unquestionably the right way to conduct a serious investigation. The pitfall, of course, is that commentators, and sometimes even members of your own conference, offer thoughts on matters on which they are not familiar."

Wednesday, Hanna told WIBX950 radio station the ongoing Benghazi investigation "was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton." His comments came after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in September the select committee was created to show Clinton was "untrustable."

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"After what Kevin McCarthy said, it's difficult to accept at least a part of it was not," Hanna said. "I think that's the way Washington works. But you'd like to expect more from a committee that's spent millions of dollars and tons of time."

Thursday, Hanna suggested his comments were being misinterpreted.

"My remarks were aimed broadly at partisanship and politics in Washington," Hanna said. "It has paralyzed our country."

Following McCarthy's remarks in September, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., filed an ethics complaint against the majority leader and Gowdy, accusing them of a smear campaign against Clinton.

"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," he said. "I am asking [the 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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