Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, with only six legislative days left before the Congress departs for August recess, I am increasingly concerned that we will not learn the answers to any of the questions I have raised over the past week before the one year anniversary of the attack on Benghazi, if ever. This is due, in large part, to the secretive nature of the investigation to date. Most of the key hearings into what happened that night in Benghazi have happened behind closed doors and in classified settings, including a June hearing with General Carter Ham, who was the head of the U.S. Forces in Africa the night of the attack. That is why I was surprised to hear comments made by General Ham at the Aspen Security Forum last week where he spoke freely about the U.S. response to the attack. Does it bother any of my colleagues that General Ham can publicly speak about the military's response at a forum in Aspen, Colorado, where the tickets were $1,200? The American people should not have to pay $1,200, and yet, his testimony before Congress was behind closed doors. According to a CNN report, General Ham told the Aspen audience that by the time an American drone arrived above the U.S. consulate ``the attack on the mission was winding down.'' By that time Ham knew Ambassador Stevens was missing and believed he could have been possibly kidnapped. General Ham was then quoted as saying: In my mind, at that point we were no longer in a response to an attack. We were in a recovery.…”