Bob Menendez: “I appreciate my colleague from the Foreign Relations Committee having already objected, but I wish to make a few remarks…”

“I appreciate my colleague from the Foreign Relations Committee having already objected, but I wish to make a few remarks because there are those--regardless of what is reviewed, regardless of who comes forth, regardless of all the information--who want to keep this alive for what are ultimately election purposes. I know the next Presidential election is a few years away, but it seems it is very alive in the Senate. Look, I am always for getting to the truth, particularly when the lives of American diplomats have been lost. That is an honorable pursuit. But by the same token, from my perspective--and let me say why I am going to have this perspective. My perspective is we have two of the most outstanding individuals in Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen. Certainly, no one questions their integrity. At least I have not heard their integrity questioned on the Senate floor. They conducted the Accountability Review Board. In the process, they yielded 29 recommendations that are, in fact, being implemented, that our committee has continued to pursue oversight in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We have held two hearings. We have had multiple level--high-level briefings, including intelligence briefings, bringing all the respective parties who are responsible together. In fact, we had the former Secretary of State before the committee at a hearing I chaired at the time who addressed all of these issues.…”