In an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday, Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said fellow House Republican Kevin McCarthy was “absolutely wrong” and should apologize for linking a Congressional investigation into Benghazi to Hillary Clinton’s sliding poll numbers.
“I’m very supportive of Kevin McCarthy, but those statements are just absolutely inappropriate, they should be withdrawn, Mr. McCarthy should apologize. I just, I think it was absolutely wrong,” Chaffetz told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews in an interview on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
McCarthy, who is a favorite to succeed John Boehner as speaker of the House, said during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable.”
Chaffetz was quick to rebuke the remarks, saying it undermines the Benghazi Select Committee’s investigation of the 2012 attack that killed four Americans in Libya.
Democrats have since called for the committee to be disbanded, arguing McCarthy’s show the investigation is politically motivated effort against Hillary Clinton, who served as secretary of state at the time of the attack.
“When I hear a statement like that, which demonstrates unequivocally that this was always meant to be a partisan, political exercise, I feel that it does a great disservice ," Clinton told MSNBC’s Al Sharpton on Wednesday.
