National Security Advisor Susan Rice said Wednesday it’s “hard to imagine” the recently announced House select committee will unearth further information about the Benghazi attack.
Speaking to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group about various national security challenges, moderator Judy Woodruff asked Rice if there’s anything more the administration did or said about the attack in Libya that the public doesn’t already know.
“Dang if I know,” Rice said. “I mean honestly.”
{mosads}The administration has produced 25,000 pages of documents related to the attack, Rice said.
The White House has already supported and participated in investigations of several different congressional committees, she added.
“It’s hard to imagine what further would come of yet another committee,” Rice said.
Instead of the select committee’s investigation, Rice said Congress should focus on improving security for U.S. embassies around the world.
The administration, she noted, has asked Congress to approve a $4.6 billion budget request to bolster their security.
“Let’s focus on that,” she said. “What’s lost in all of this discussion about Sunday shows and talking points is that we lost four Americans.”
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) earlier this month announced the select committee to investigate the September 2012 attack.
A previously unreleased White House email involving Rice and her talking points in the wake of the Benghazi attack prompted the creation of the committee, Boehner said.
The email showed deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes advising Rice, who was then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to discuss Muslim protests over an anti-Islam video in an effort to downplay the fact that the attack was carried out by terrorists.
Boehner named seven Republican lawmakers to the 12-person committee. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) was appointed to head the panel.
Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested Democrats would participate on the committee only if it’s equally divided by party.
Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers have also threatened to boycott the committee.
The White House has not yet made clear whether it would cooperate with the panel.