Jake Tapper: Let's face it, Carney's Benghazi "dissembling" is insulting; Update: Boehner to appoint select committee

Via the Hugh Hewitt Show, he means “lying,” I think, but I’ll let the man choose his own words. He doesn’t say which comments specifically he finds insulting but it’s probably the one where Carney tried to convince everyone that Ben Rhodes was merely linking the Mohammed video to the protests around the region, not … the murder of a U.S. ambassador that had been on the front page of every newspaper in America for three days. That’s also, I take it, why Hewitt’s crowning Carney the worst press secretary of the last 40 years or so. Why even take questions from the press if you’re going to spin them this feebly?

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So lame and insulting has it been, in fact, that Carney may have finally forced Boehner to act.

House Speaker John Boehner is “seriously considering” appointing a select committee to investigate the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, according to a senior GOP leadership aide. The move comes after the revelation of an email from a top Obama national security official, Ben Rhodes, instructing Susan Rice to focus on an anti-Muslim internet video to explain the attacks.

“The new emails this week were the straw that broke the camel’s back,” says the aide. “The Speaker was furious to learn that the admininstration withheld relevant documents from a congressional subpoena. He’s sick and tired of this evasion and obstruction from the administration, and wants a solution to finally force accountability, get to the truth, and provide justice.”…

The details of the exact structure of the special committee are still under discussion, but a source tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD that Rep. Trey Gowdy, a lawmaker with a reputation for tough questioning of administration witnesses, is under consideration to chair it. Gowdy has participated in meetings of an ad hoc committee of House members from various committees of jurisdiction who have met informally to compare notes and shape strategy on the Benghazi investigations.

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Withholding Rhodes’s e-mail is the casus belli for the select committee but Carney’s performance is what really made it catch fire in conservative media and put pressure on Boehner. I wonder which way this cuts politically, though. Until now, Boehner’s held back on appointing a committee because he thought there wasn’t much left to uncover and because he thought that revisiting the subject at this point wouldn’t do much to excite conservatives before November. Rhodes’s e-mail is the spark to the tinder; maybe there’s some extra motivation to be had here after all. Plus, the broader political landscape has changed a bit for the GOP. ObamaCare isn’t quite the panacea for Republicans that it was back in October, when the website was melting down, and if Boehner’s serious about a big amnesty push this summer, he’ll want to do something that pleases grassroots conservatives to contain the damage. New Benghazi hearings could be it.

Update: And there it is.

“Americans learned this week that the Obama Administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the People’s House. These revelations compel the House to take every possible action to ensure the American people have the truth about the terrorist attack on our consulate that killed four of our countrymen. In light of these new developments, the House will vote to establish a new select committee to investigate the attack, provide the necessary accountability, and ensure justice is finally served.

“The administration’s withholding of documents – emails showing greater White House involvement in misleading the American people – is a flagrant violation of trust and undermines the basic principles of oversight upon which our system of government is built. And it forces us to ask the question, what else about Benghazi is the Obama administration still hiding from the American people?

“The House committees that have been investigating this attack have done extraordinary work, using their subpoena power, holding dozens of hearings, and conducting hundreds of interviews. Without this work we would not know much that we do today. But it’s clear that questions remain, and the administration still does not respect the authority of Congress to provide proper oversight. This dismissiveness and evasion requires us to elevate the investigation to a new level. I intend for this select committee to have robust authority, and I will expect it to work quickly to get answers for the American people and the families of the victims.

“Four Americans died at the hands of terrorists nearly 20 months ago, and we are still missing answers, accountability, and justice. It’s time that change.”

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