A group called Stop Hillary PAC keeps trying to give Benghazi panel chair Trey Gowdy money

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, has tried very hard to portray his committee as a professional, nonpartisan inquiry into what happened at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012. Nobody's making that very easy. Several Republican colleagues, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have publicly suggested or stated that the committee was set up to sink Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations, and Clinton and Democratic allies have piled on with gusto. And then there's the money trail.

Last Friday, reports Mike DeBonis in The Washington Post, Gowdy's campaign returned three $2,000 donations from political action committees whose treasurer also manages the money for Stop Hillary PAC, a Virginia outfit that ran an incendiary ad during the Democratic debate accusing Clinton of abandoning the four men killed in the Benghazi terrorist attack. The donations were made in May, and Gowdy gave the money back after The Washington Post inquired about them. The Stop Hillary PAC treasurer, Dan Backer, also served as treasurer of Gowdy's leadership PAC.

Gowdy "has made every effort possible" to keep the Benghazi committee above politics, said Benghazi committee spokesman Jamal Ware, adding: "If you hear Trey Gowdy, Benghazi, and donate in the same message, Mr. Gowdy would personally encourage you to ignore the request." Backer hasn't made that easy, DeBonis reports:

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Gowdy and his Benghazi Committee interview Clinton on Thursday. If nothing else, it should make for good political theater. You can read more at The Washington Post.