Hillary Clinton says 'it's time to move on' after House GOP Benghazi report

On Tuesday, House Republicans on the select Benghazi committee released their final report on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in eastern Libya. The report found no evidence that Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, was culpable for the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Clinton responded to the report Tuesday during a speech in Denver.

"I understand that after more than two years and $7 million spent by the Benghazi Committee out of taxpayer funds, it had to report today it had found nothing — nothing — to contradict the conclusions of the Independent Accountably Board or the conclusions of the prior, multiple, earlier investigations carried out on a bipartisan basis in the Congress," Clinton said. "I'll leave it to others to characterize this report, but I think it's pretty clear, it's time to move on."

YouTube

Watch On

Clinton's characterization of the Benghazi investigations is, unsurprisingly, similar to the findings of Benghazi panel Democrats, who released their own report. But it's also the conclusion of The Washington Post's editorial board, which said that the Republican report "adds exactly nothing substantial to the story." Despite the Benghazi attack not helping the GOP in the 2012 elections, "Republicans have persisted in attempting to milk the 'scandal' for the past four years," the editorial board said. "They have done so even though repeated previous investigations — including by a GOP-led House intelligence panel — found nothing to contradict the Obama administration's basic account."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

On the other hand, as Philip Bump says at The Washington Post, the "damage has already been done" for Clinton. In one recent poll, 23 percent of voters — including half of Donald Trump's supporters and 44 percent of Republicans — agreed that it is "definitely true" that "as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton knew the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi was going to be attacked and did nothing to protect it." Clinton's trustworthiness numbers have also plummeted, and the House Benghazi Committee said Clinton's use of a private email server "arguably holds the most potential for damaging Clinton's campaign."