http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/africa/189064-graham-hopeful-administration-will-relent-on-benghaziNovember 03, 2013, 09:57 am
Graham hopeful administration will relent on Benghazi
By Mario Trujillo
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he shouldn’t have to be holding up all Obama administration nominees to get answers about the attack in Benghazi last year.
Graham said he is hopeful the administration will eventually relent and allow Congress to interview survivors of the attack.
“I shouldn’t have to do this,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I shouldn’t have to make these kind of threats. They should provide, in a responsible way, those who lived through Benghazi to be interviewed separate and apart from the Obama administration to find out what happened.”
Graham asked how Congress would react if former President George W. Bush did not allow survivors of 9/11 to speak to Congress because of an ongoing investigation.
“Can you imagine if this was George W. Bush and he told the Congress after 9/11 you can’t talk to anybody because there is a potential criminal investigation,” he said.
State Department investigators have interviewed all the survivors of the attack and notes no one has been barred from testifying before Congress. But the administration has said Congressional testimony could impede the investigation.
Graham said last week he would put a hold on all nominations until Congress is allowed to interview survivors of the Benghazi, Libya, attack that killed four Americans.
Grahams threat followed a “60 Minutes” interview with a British security guard, Dylan Davies, last week who gave an account of the night, turning focus back onto the tragedy.
Media reports have found that an incident report from Davies employer differs from his account on “60 Minutes.” Davies has said he never wrote the report.
Graham alleged that administration leaked the report in order to discredit his interview. The FBI interviewed Davies separately and Graham demanded the administration provide those tapes.
“I want those FBI interviews,” he said. “Here is what the administration is doing. They are taking part of the file to leak it to try to impeach a critic and they are withholding information.”
He added, “If he is lying I want to know that. But give to me and the Congress the full information he provided to the government. I want those interviews.”
