Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) isn’t backing down on Benghazi, or his vow to block all of President Barack Obama’s cabinet nominees until he gets the truth about the September 11, 2012 attack.
Graham added that nothing changed, even though CBS News admitted it was wrong to trust a 60 Minutes source who claimed to be at the scene of the US Consulate attack in Libya.
The Senator announced a day after the CBS News report that he would stall the nominees until the Obama administration allows attack survivors to speak with lawmakers. The news organization reports that Graham told CNN’s State of the Union that he will continue his quest.
Graham commented, “My request has been going on for a year, to talk to the five survivors. I want to perform oversight. I’m not trying to prosecute a crime.” He met with the State Department on Thursday about the request.
The Guardian notes that Lindsey Graham added that he has several questions to ask the survivors, including, “Did you report a protest? Did you ever indicate there was a protest? Did you say this is a terrorist attack from the beginning? When you were interviewed by the FBI four days later, did you ever say this was a protest?”
Graham has other questions as well, but the State Department already told him he can’t have access to the survivors, because it could compromise an ongoing criminal investigation. The department’s response isn’t enough to stop Graham. The South Carolina Republican is one of several senators in his party who have questioned the administration about the Benghazi attack and accused the administration of misleading the public by saying the attack wasn’t caused by terrorist activity.
Should Sen. Lindsey Graham continue to refuse to back down on Benghazi, his actions could affect the nominations of Janet Yellen and Jeh Johnson. Yellen was selected to chair the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and Johnson was nominated as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security.