Washington, DC — Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement regarding the Intelligence Committee's unanimous, bipartisan vote Thursday to approve its investigative report on the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. The report now goes to the U.S. Intelligence Community, which will declassify it for public release.
“As a member of the Intelligence Committee, I have spent two years studying the investigation documents and interviewing senior intelligence officials and eyewitnesses to the Benghazi attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The Intelligence Committee’s unanimous, bipartisan vote confirms what I have long maintained – this tragedy was not the result of an intelligence failure, and there is absolutely no evidence of a cover-up or an attempt to deceive the American people. The report found that there was no stand down order given to U.S. personnel the night of the attacks, and that the Intelligence Community provided flawed talking points due to conflicting assessments. This bipartisan report debunks the politically-motivated conspiracy theories surrounding the Benghazi tragedy and it should be declassified as soon as possible so that the American people can see the facts for themselves.”