House intel report on Benghazi finds no secret Obama scandal

A House investigation into the Benghazi embassy attack concluded that the Obama administration was not guilty of any deliberate, negligent wrongdoing, according to Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.). Thompson told SFGate that the report, from a GOP-led panel, "confirms that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order" was given to troops in the area.

The House Intelligence Committee voted last week to declassify the report, pending approval from security agencies.

Certainly it's possible Thompson was sugar-coating the report ahead of its formal release. Yet the broad conclusion he outlined — that while the administration botched its initial talking points due to conflicting intelligence, it was not hiding some big explosive scandal — further undercuts the GOP's claims to the contrary. A bipartisan Senate report released in January similarly found that there was no evidence of a cover-up.

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Nevertheless, House Republicans are still pressing ahead with a separate investigation into the attack. And though House Democrats have agreed to participate in it, they have branded the investigation a "political stunt" timed, coincidentally, to align with the midterm elections.