issa: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. 2013, : on march 29, the congress started an investigation into whether the i.r.s. used a flawed process to find tax exempt organizations. to wit, i subpoenaed lois lerner because she was in charge of the office that executed and we believe targeted conservative group thesms two divisions of the i.r.a. most involved with the targeting were the e.o. determinations unit in cincinnati and the e.o. technical unit in washington, d.c., headed by lois lerner. before the hearing, ms. lerner's lawyer notified the committee that she would invoke her fifth amendment privilege and decline to answer any questions from our committee members. instead of doing, ms. lerner read a voluntary statement, self-selected statement, included a series of specific declarations of her innocence. she said -- mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house will please come to order. the gentleman is recogni

i think we can look at what darrell issa did. you showed in your intro those wonderful clips of him cutting the mike on elijah cummings like a thug. slit his throat, cut the mike. >> shut it down, shut it down. >> you know, the way that congressman cummings has been treated is very telling. he's been treated with disrespect. the way their investigation and interviews have been selectively leaked to make the white house look bad and leave out things that have exonerated the white house on various scandals. so i see no reason for the democrats to participate. and that amazing tweet that you showed -- >> from the speaker's office. >> from speaker boehner, with kind of pin-up photos of the super seven, the magnificent seven, there's no reason from anything that we've seen so far to think that that's going to be -- that this is going to be any kind of a fair process. >> it's like an nfl draft but it is actually an investigative committee that is looking into deaths of four american citizens abroad. luke, let me ask you about this sele

have they lost control of issa? >> well, issa has clearly gone rogue here.has this case of subpoena envy that trey gowdy is now the guy everybody is watching. he's saying no, wait for me. i can still create a whole mess of this benghazi thing. but if john kerry is irritated about being ordered twice now to appear before darrell issa's committee, the one who should be really irritated is trey gowdy. look, if you republicans in the house want to drag the secretary of state up there for something that happened long before he took office, you can go ahead and do that, but you're only going to get one bite of this apple so they would be very fair in saying no to the other committee. now, elijah cummings is going to be the ranking democrat on both committees. that shows democrats have confidence in their guy here. and the republicans are quite split on how they're going to proceed on benghazi. >> you know, democrats even debated whether to involve themselves at all in this new committee. and they finally agreed to send five members to it. minority lead canner nanc

darrel issa called out somebody else's slippery tactics. it's the resistance to the subpoena for may 21st, a day when the secretary was scheduled to be in mexico, working. yesterday, secretary kerry happened to be in london. given this was the second time in two weeks he was issued a subpoena while traveling overseas doing the nation's diplomatic business, the folks at state struggled to stay measured to chairman issa. quote, this is not the way legitimate oversight is conducted around it is a departure from the days representative issa la meanted the secretary of state should not be distracted to testify at the barrel of a subpoena. the state department says they are working to offer witnesses, quote, better suited to answer issa's questions, like say, perhaps, someone who was actu actually working at the state department when the benghazi attacks happened. this comes as more republicans look to get a piece of the benghazi action. a letter signed by 37 republican senators is calling for a benghazi select committee of their own. darrel issa

after all, this is darrell issa, a man who loves to waste all of those things. if you listen to issa's crowd, the gop open season has begun. >> we now have the smoking document. >> we have a major, major scandal. we have lies that are perpetuated by this white house. >> in his letter today calling on the secretary of state to appear before his committee on may 21st, congressman issa warned, quote, compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a game. but games or at least partisan hijinks are exactly what the committee's ranking democrat, congressman elijah cumming, sees happening here. less than an hour later, he called issa's action, shockingly disrespectful to the secretary of state. but it is unclear at this point whether conservatives can even hear those kinds of allegations, because minutes after issa's subpoena, house speaker john pain, who himself called on kerry to testify about benghazi yesterday, speaker boehner announced the house of representatives will now form a special select committee on, wait for it, benghazi, led by this man, south carolina

issa, seek recognition? mr. issa: mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. issa: by direction of the committee on oversight and government reform, i call up oh the resolution, h.res. 4574, recommending that the house of representatives find lois g. lerner, former director, exempt organizations, internal revenue service new york contempt of congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the committee on oversight and government reform. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 574, resolution recommending that the house of representatives find lois g. lerner, former director, exempt organizations, internal revenue service, in contempt of congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the committee on government and oversight reform. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 56 , the resolution is considered read and shall be debatable for 50 minutes equal

issa: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. 2013, : on march 29, the congress started an investigation into whether the i.r.s. used a flawed process to find tax exempt organizations. to wit, i subpoenaed lois lerner because she was in charge of the office that executed and we believe targeted conservative group thesms two divisions of the i.r.a. most involved with the targeting were the e.o. determinations unit in cincinnati and the e.o. technical unit in washington, d.c., headed by lois lerner. before the hearing, ms. lerner's lawyer notified the committee that she would invoke her fifth amendment privilege and decline to answer any questions from our committee members. instead of doing, ms. lerner read a voluntary statement, self-selected statement, included a series of specific declarations of her innocence. she said -- mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house will please come to order. the gentleman is recogni

on the other hand, there's darrell issa and elijah cummings, a totally different tactical example. as chairman of a key oversight committee, darrell issa launched hearing after hearing and investigation after investigation after investigation, all of which the democrats think are shams. one of the ways they made their strongest case that darrell issa isn't really investigating anything, he is just grand standing and doing so in a way that's partisan, pointless, classless. one of the ways democrats have expressed that about darrell issa is by having the ranking democrat, elijah cummings, say that at all of the committee hearings. having elijah cummings in the hearing room is a critical way democrats made their case that darrell issa in their view is a clown and his supposed investigations should not be taken seriously. >> ladies and gentlemen, seeking the truth is the obligation of this committee. i can see no point in going further. i have no expectation miss lerner will cooperate. therefore we -- >> mr. chairman, i have a statement. i have a procedural question, mr. chairman. i ha

. >>> also, is darrell issa going rogue? the benghazi force is out of control. tonight we'll talk to democrat e elijah cummings about how he plans to fight back. >>> also, could the horrific school shootings in california have been prevented? some new hope tonight about what can be done to stop the next tragedy. stay with us. this is interesting. it says here that a woman's sex drive increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. it seems that 80 is the new 18. grannies, bless your heart, you are bringing sexy back! eat up. keep heart-healthy. live long. for a healthy heart, eat the 100% natural whole grain goodness of post shredded wheat. doctors recommend it. alright, that should just about do it. excuse me, what are you doing? uh, well we are fine tuning these small cells that improve coverage, capacity and quality of the network. it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network. >>> today's

issa: mr. speaker, i would like to yield one minute to the distinguished the gentleman from rom ohio, mr. order and -- jordan -- mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion and seek time in opposition. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. issa: i yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. jordan: in response to the ranking member, it's not 39 interviews, it's 40. we did another one yesterday and that's going to lead to another one because we learned information yesterday. and the minority staff has released parts of those depositions. we'll release them all when we hear from lois. here's what we did learn yesterday in the 40th, richard, from the department of justice said this in the fall of 2010 at loisepartment, i contacted that justice and the i.r.s. were working together back in 2010, all the more reason we need to hear from lois lerner and the only way to get to the truth is thro

enter chair darryl issa.s not quite gotten the memo that the select committee has got this because in a move that can best be described as puzzling, issa leaked what he thought was a previously unreleased portion of a state department e-mail. sent at 9:11 p.m. eastern time. it reads, in part, "white house is reaching out to you-tube to -- of the pastor john video." now, that was supposed to be a bombshell, but as the new republic's brian boytler points out, it's more like a major dud because far from showing some neff airus white house plan to retend that they thought an offensive video touched off the violence against americans in benghazi, the e-mail shows that's exactly what they actually believed just after the attacks begun. to quote botley, did darryl issa just sabotage the new benghazi committee because he just blew a hole in one big piece of the conspiracy theory. joining me now, congressman elijah cummings, and, sir, thank you so much for being here. i appreciate it. >> it's good to be with you. >> i

darrell issa exit stage right. this is "now." >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. ♪ >> let's start with benghazi. >> the scandal house republicans can't get enough of. >> house speaker john boehner is forming a select committee. >> another select committee? another investigation. and more partisanship. >> there've been 13 hearings on benghazi, 50 briefings, 25,000 pages of documents released. >> there may be other documents. >> what we really need to do is get our hands on the documents that the white house has been withholding. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> benghazi. >> peter king acknowledged that there is kind of an overreach danger. >> republicans could be seen as somehow encouraging a political fight over the fact that four americans were murdered. >> it is a political stunt. >> benghazi seems to not have resonated other than on fox and a couple of other groups. >> everybody knows it's a political stunt. >> it's a conspiracy theory without a conspiracy. >> they're all tried and true red herring. >> benghazi.

now he sees issa operating on the outside.rcuit. >> explain to me, you understand this, he was a senator during that tragedy in benghazi. he has no firsthand knowledge of the decisioning making process going on. >> that's exactly right. >> what is the rationale that you've been told? >> i don't know. i mean, i think what he's saying what issa's saying is i want to bring him in and possibly embarrass him. he said in that heart, they told us, there are other people, the kous stodian of the records, that could get him much better information. all he wants to know is about the records. >> did trey gowdy say to you the most important question he wants answereded? >> not yet. that's one of the things i asked him to do. we're going to meet next thursday. come back and tell me exactly what the purpose of this select committee is and give me some kind of scope. you cannot do an investigation unless you have scope. of what you're trying to answer and where you're going. >> i want to play a couple sound bites on an unrelated matter. a se

chairman darrell issa of the oversight and government reform committee. chairman buck mckeon of the armed services committee. chairman ed royce and the foreign affairs committee. and chairman mike rogers and the intelligence committee for their excellent work that has advanced this issue and brought up new facts without their dill -- new facts. without their diligent work, we would not be where we are today. but mr. speaker, that work was thwarted and by this administration not proactively in an open and i believe transparent way addressing the issue equally themselves, they have placed us where we are today. it comes as a result of their -- of -- of their being an unwilling partner. it comes as a result of many, turns, the administration has put up roadblocks to the congressional incarery -- inquiry. whether it's not meeting with congress, delaying the delivery of important document, heavily redacting critical information and retroactively classifying previously unclassified files, this administration earned exactly the title that has been placed on them

cummings was a good foil to issa. >> he's dignified. >> yeah, he is dignified. i can see that. >> here's mitt romney. he can be a gentleman. he's well bred and all of that stuff. here he is base is i cically de the use of killing those four democrats on watch for us, their killing is now fair game to raise money with. here he is saying so on "morning joe." let's watch him. this is mitt romney, the gentleman talking here. >> i think what the republicans have every right to say and is appropriate to say is that if republicans were not in the congress, if republicans did not have a majority in the congress, there would not be an investigation into benghazi and so to say, look, elect republicans so we can have these kinds of investigations is appropriate. >> he doesn't know -- he doesn't know what he's talking about. >> he's talking about raising money. he says it's already -- he's saying, michael and david, if we go out and raise money on this horror out there, then it's fine. >> but factually wrong. there have been eight -- >> michael first. >> there have been eig

issa: i'd like to correct the record. it's now 40 transcribed interviews and we received 1,000 emails from lois lerner today. so that 14 million probably went up a little bit because today the i.r.s. finally turned over some of the documents they owed this committee under subpoena for over half a year. i now recognize the distinguished gentleman from florida, mr. mica, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. mica: thank you, mr. chairman, mr. speaker. it's probably nothing more sacred to americans, nothing than portant to protect the democratic electoral process which has made this by far the greatest country in the world, getting everyone an pportunity to participate. we're here today to hold lois lerner in contempt. it's been stated she didn't have her rights recognized. she has the right to take the fifth. she's done that. under the constitution. may ught her in twice, 22, 2013, march, 2014. she began -- and you can see the tapes -- declaring her innocence

issa: thank you. mr. speaker, the minority's entitled to opinions but not facts that just aren't so. our committee issued an extensive committee report, staff report as to the targeting of conservatives. the minority offered no response. the gentleman not on the committee might say something, it just isn't so. the targeting by the i.r.s. was could you have curve groups. they were the ones that got special treatments and asked inappropriate questions. they were the ones that lois lerner said she did nothing wrong about, but she did. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: how much time do i have left? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts had a 2 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from florida has 14 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. mcgoven: i yield myself 30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: the ways and means mocrats

second time. >> this is a challenge to congressman issa. getting more appropriate witness from your point of view or the secretary will not appear before the select committee. >> no, i wouldn't read it that way. we are working to accommodate the house oversight committee's request. that is what we are doing here. you think it is appropriate for them to have two testify twice on the same topic. we have gotten a subpoena. we have offered to other dates. that will be where he appears. thinkingrt of you there are more appropriate witnesses to appear before -- i don't see how that is appearing before to committees on the same thing. is limited to documents and the select committee is looking at the entire before, during and after of the actual attack, why -- >> i would let congressman issa's bid to the point of why he issued the subpoena. i would venture to guess there will be questions about benghazi that are not related to document production. a postthe reason used subpoena or him appearing before arert was because there more appropriate witne

i tried to find out today, how many hearings darrell issa has meld on benghazi.n't even tell you. they lost count. >> they want to do this because of the bin laden anniversary, reminding you of that, and because of the failed iraq war that ended up being on flawed to false is premises. they're desperate to make something that's just not there. >> i ghaurn tee you john kerry is going to clean issa's clock. i guarantee you that. they have picked on the wrong guy. enos how that senate works. he's going to clean their clock. they're priming the pump. >> have a great weekend. >> coming up, you won't believe what republicans are up to this weekend in the land of scott walker. and if you think some of these gop attacks are laughable, you're in good company. so does the president. how he uses humor to take down his critics. these don't look clean. [ doorbell rings ] the johnsons! stall them. first word... uh...chicken? hi, cascade kitchen counselor. stop stalling and start shining with cascade platinum packs. over time, platinum fights cloudy residue 3x better than the c

the fact is that, i think what issa's mistake although issa makes a lot of mistakes. he is lousy chairman. he should be gone. had 25 hearings. haven't come up with anything. there are no more smoking guns. >> keeps rolling her eyes while you're speaking. >> political decision made during the campaign. no question about it. i was first one. i thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning. what it shows there were people concerned about the video. >> bob, come on, just a second. i'm not going to let kate at this go in a second. first of all they're not releasing email. they're complaining issa released it. why didn't they release it in the first place? where did they come up with this? claimed it came from the intelligence community. now it didn't come from the intelligence community? we did it three hours -- >> trying to project campaign situation and out front being antiterrorist guy and middle of last couple of months of campaign -- >> ding, ding. >> if i were there i would have come up with anything i could possibly think of. >> are you now admitting that the

>> the former press secretary to darrell issa. issa was about to be the chairman of the house government oversight committee -- government reform committee. kurt was this incredibly transparent operator, someone whose ambitions he wore on his sleeve. he joined the workforce at 17, didn't go to college. i thought he was refreshing, kind of a naked operator. for some reason, he let me follow him around. i was interested in him as a subject of the book. in the course of our dealings together, he forwarded me a bunch of e-mails that he was receiving on a day-to-day basis to try to give me a fuller picture of how he was spending his days. a little unusual. "political" got wind of it, and they wrote a story. it became a scandal, that he was sharing e-mails from people who didn't know their e-mails were being shared. he was eventually fired and then eventually rehired. >> why was he rehired by darrell issa? was he fired because he became the issue? >> i think he was fired because he messed up. at the time, it was decided [indiscernible]

issa: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. 2013, : on march 29, the congress started an investigation into whether the i.r.s. used a flawed process to find tax exempt organizations. to wit, i subpoenaed lois lerner because she was in charge of the office that executed and we believe targeted conservative group thesms two divisions of the i.r.a. most involved with the targeting were the e.o. determinations unit in cincinnati and the e.o. technical unit in washington, d.c., headed by lois lerner. before the hearing, ms. lerner's lawyer notified the committee that she would invoke her fifth amendment privilege and decline to answer any questions from our committee members. instead of doing, ms. lerner read a voluntary statement, self-selected statement, included a series of specific declarations of her innocence. she said -- mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house will please come to order. the gentleman is recogni

issa just subpoenaed him out of the blue.hey don't care what comes of it. >> he wasn't there then. >> john kerry has to testify. then kerry will go testify. then more hanging testifies when kerry testifies and they can just make it go on forever. >> the white house is taking heat for not disclosing the e-mail sooner. now, here's jay carney facing off with abc's jonathan carr who's actually quite good at his questioning here earlier this week. let's listen to carr going after carney. >> why were you holding back this information? why was this e-mail not turned over to the congress? why was it not released when you released all the other e-mails. this is directly relevant. >> john again -- >> why did it take a court case for you to release this. >> i can say it again and again and you can keep asking again and again. this document was about benghazi. >> it was the prep for the subject. >> it wasn't her only prep, john. she relied for her answers on benghazi on the document prepared by the cia, as did members of congress. >> thi

. >> elijah cummings gave darryl issa the chance to look terrible and congressman issa took full advantaged elijah cummings not been there in the room to object to what was going on, that would have just been the darryl issa show. but because congressman cummings was in the room to object, that was the most memorable thing anybody knows about darryl issa. so, two strategies. two very different strategies used by democrats when they have been out of power in congress. and this month, democrats have been debating which of anesthesia strategies to use on a new question. because house republicans have launched a new select committee to investigate the attacks in benghazi, which killed four americans, including our ambassador to that country, our ambassador to libya, in september 2012. democratic leader nancy pelosi has been consulting with ranking democrats on other committees and other democrats involved in making decisions in the democratic caucus. she's been talking to the other leadership in the democratic party. they've been having an internal debate. and right up until today, it seemed l

but issa did get some jabs in on america's top diplomat when he made this action. elizabeth prann has the latest from washington. >> reporter: hi, eric. secretary of state john kerry is no longer required to sit in the hot seat during an upcoming house overseat hearing on benghazi on june 12th. chairman darrell issa announcing that on friday, saying, in part, it's been disappointing to watch a long-serving former senator like secretary kerry, squirm his way to what i'm doing today, releasing him. the move nearly guarantees secretary kerry will testify during the house's new select committee on benghazi. the state department is firing back, a spokeswoman saying the department's officials would continue to cooperate with the investigation and called issa's statement, quote, mystifying. >> thank you. we've extensively answered questions, we have done more than 50 briefings, provided more than 25,000 documents. >> meanwhile, bits of the former secretary of state, hillary clinton's book "hard choices" are being made public. one chapter, clinton reportedly writes, there

elijah cummings is from his perspective trying to keep darrell issa honest. adam smith, ranking member of the armed services committee, adam schiff from the subcommittee on state and foreign operations, permanent member of the intelligence committee. linda sanchez, member of the house ways and means committee, subcommittee on oversight, tammy duckworth, a member of the armed services committee, also the committee on oversight and government reform. all of them are deeply experienced. they have all spent a lot of time looking into earlier investigations into benghazi. the argument, as mike points out, was very simple. if you don't participate, the seven republicans are going to do whatever they want. that won't be a defender, if you will, of hillary clinton when she comes to testify if they call her or others who come to testify. so in the end, nancy pelosi decided better to be at the table than to be away. >> gentlemen, stay with me. i want to bring in one more voice, our chief congressional correspondent dana bash. dana, as we await speaker pelosi, we've see

and he will appear and talk about that if that is what chairman issa wants to talk about. >> it sound like a trick accommodation. he will testify before that committee and then he won't testify before a committee that he is a more appropriate witness. >> it speaks to two points. the first is that his time is very valuable and very limited. he has a whole world of pressing diplomatic issues on his plate. so the time and energy that it takes to prepare for these kind of hearings, obviously they are important and we want to the secretary to be able to talk about them. it's why we offered two dates. but this has to be a situation where it doesn't go on forever and ever where he has to testify once on it and continually gets asked the same questions over and over again. the second point is what i talked about. they have to figure out how they are going to handle oversight of this issue and who -- and where they want to use their resources and when they want to call witnesses and what they select committee does. that is an issue that their caucus has to decide. we can only answer to request

second des moines before the select committee. >> so essentially this is a challenge to congressman issa, get -- ask for or get a more appropriate witness from your point of view, or the secretary will not appear before she select committee. >> i wouldn't read that way. we're working to accommodate the house oversight committee's request. but we don't think it's appropriate for him to have to testify twice on the same topic, so we have gotten a subpoena, which we have now in our letter back asked them to drop because we offered two other dates. and that will be where he appears. >> but the whole point of you think can that there was -- there are more appropriate witnesses to appear before hoggard -- >> we still believe that. >> i don't see how that's appearing before two committees on the same thing. if hoggard is limited only to document production and that the select committee is looking at the entire, before, during and after of the actual attack -- >> i don't note that made clear that is what he will be himmed to up there. >> i thought that was the whole opinion -- >> i would let cou

darrell issa was -- this is what he said after the latest round of issa hearings.he armed services committee has interviewed more than a dozen witnesses in the operational chain of command that night, yielding thousands of pages of transcripts. e-mails, and other documents. we have no evidence that department of state officials delayed the decision to deploy what few sources dod had available to respond. this is the leading republican saying this. but, again, dave, now here we are about a week after he say this looking at a select committee. can you play this out a little bit? let's sea democrats do join the committee? let's say they have the back and forth they have with eli cummings and darrell issa. that plays out itself. i just remember the lewinsky thing. it took -- what did they end up with? did they have any democratic votes for that? they might have had one or two. >> no. the question you're talking about, the buck mckeon argument, i remember talking to republican voters about benghazi. they would bring it up without me mentioning i. they would show up outs

independent legal experts concluded that chairman issa's efforts to hold ms. lerner in contempt of congress is constitutionally deficient. this resolution before us today is of course not meant to generate policy. it's nonet generate headlines. -- it's meant to generate headlines. republicans once again are showing that they are more interested in partisan election year gimmicks than working in a bipartisan way to tackle our country's most pressing challenges. we ought to turn to the important matters of creating jobs, raising the minimum wage, restoring emergency unemployment for those who are struggling to find work. issues the american people overwhelmingly support and want their congress to address. i urge my colleagues to give this partisan resolution the vote it deserves. and to feed -- and defeat it so we can turn to the people's business. in closing, let me say this, mr. speaker. there are 435 of us in this body. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized, the g

darrell issa is comparing president obama with president nixon. but the freakout once again doesn't square with reality. here's what got things going. rhodes refers to a prep call with susan rice ahead of her appearances on those five sunday talk shows the weekend after the tragedy. rhodes calls one of the goals for the interview should be, quote, underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy. how is that different from what we now know actually happened? according to the bipartisan senate intelligence committee report from earlier this year, in fact, from january, some intelligence shows the attacks were likely put together in short order. following that day's violent protests in cairo against an inflammatory video. what's more, the first draft of the cia's talking points for susan rice participants an even clearer picture. we believe based on clearly available information that the attacks in benghazi were inspired by the protests at the u.s. embassy in cairo. michael steele and david corn join

does daryl issa get a seat? he's been waving the benghazi flag for years and wouldn't it be completely awkward not to give him a seat on committee, at the same time i'm sure nobody wants to do that? >> yeah, you know, a number of republicans actually in the conference and fair number of the senate particularly who have been disappointed with his handling of benghazi and also the irs scandal. and they don't want to necessarily see him there. he's very confrontational a lightning rod for democratic ire. he, you know, representative cummings go at it on a day-to-day basis. a number of republicans want this to have some semblance of not be ago trial and folks come in and ask serious questions not just about the talking points but the broader issue of what happened in benghazi. so there's pressure on boehner not to have folks like issa on the panel. >> howard the seriousness is compromised by the fact the nrcc sending out fund-raising e-mails, a tea party group, patriots for economic freedom sending out blasts on beh

you mention congressman darrell issa, he's already gone on to the next scandal.ay, issa threatened an epa official if he failed to produce certain documents. listen to this. >> it is my intention to bring to this committee a contempt if that is not done. it is clear that the president you work for and the administration you work for has a delay and deny capability and plan and has since the beginning. we've recently seen white house documents as to the false and misleading statements after benghazi. >> i mean, would they hold the whole obama administration in contempt if they could, congressman? >> they could -- they would if they could, rev, but, you know, they are just grasping at straws, and darrell issa specifically has struck out on benghazi, so he's moving on to the irs, he's moving on. they keep playing politics, instead of doing their jobs, rev, instead of doing the right thing, they continue to do the wrong thing in politics, and that's just -- that's why they have such a low approval rating, frankly, and why americans are disgusted. >> record low. forme

>> the former press secretary to darrell issa. issa was about to be the chairman of the house government oversight committee -- government reform committee. kurt was this incredibly transparent operator, someone whose ambitions he wore on his sleeve. he joined the workforce at 17, didn't go to college. i thought he was refreshing, kind of a naked operator. for some reason, he let me follow him around. i was interested in him as a subject of the book. in the course of our dealings together, he forwarded me a bunch of e-mails that he was receiving on a day-to-day basis to try to give me a fuller picture of how he was spending his days. a little unusual. "political" got wind of it, and they wrote a story. it became a scandal, that he was sharing e-mails from people who didn't know their e-mails were being shared. he was eventually fired and then eventually rehired. >> why was he rehired by darrell issa? was he fired because he became the issue? >> i think he was fired because he messed up. at the time, it was decided it has a very cl

issa committee. congressman issa wrote, seeing -- congressman's investigation into benghazi, attempt to use the upcoming june it's time to reassess. it's been disappointing to watch a former senator like secretary kerry, releasing him from the upcoming hearing commitment we made only after we issued him a subpoena, end quote. a lot of politics going on there, but we'll have to see whether or not secretary kerry eventually does testify before the select committee. >>> in the meantime, former new york city mayor michael bloomberg slammed liberals for what he calls a lack of tolerance. accusing -- here's what he told graduates yesterday at harvard. >> if you want the freedom to worship as you wish, to speak as you wish, and to marry whom you wish, you must tolerate my freedom to do so or not to do so as well. now what i do may offend you, you may find my actions immoral or unjust, but attempting to restrict my freedoms, in ways that you would not restrict your own, leads only to injustice. >> time to go

issa is accusing the department. says the new s&p will compel kerry to, quote, answer questionsing your agency's response about the investigation of the attack. david cornyn has been following this. and michael tomaski is a special correspondent for "the daily beast." is there anything here? i've been arguing and watching this thing. i do have a file cabinet in my head. it's not like every day is brand-new thing. consistently we got reports there was a copycat kind of thing. there was protests all over the middle east at that time. cairo was obviously all over the media. that led to kind of a copycat operation in this benghazi facility out there. and, of course, the whoelg thing seems to have come out o of anger in the islamic and arab world of this crazy and on knox vus video that went out. we all know that. that's in the paper, the news that came out. what's new, pussycat? why do they keep making this into a big deal? >> because they have nothing else. their theory of the case has always been that the white house d

darrell issa's committee or the special committee. the up shot, john kerry will be before darrell issa's committee june 12th. democrats see this as a political witch hunt but they do not want to leave republicans to the field to have all attention focused on them without defense in particular the defense of their presumptive although not declared 2016 candidate in hillary clinton, who of course was secretary of state at the time. >> boy, have we seen this fight over bengahzi over and over again. so it will play out again. thank you. >>> president obama has been making changes to his cabinet. the president formerly nominated san antonio mayor julian castro to be secretary of housing and urban development. and shaun donovan to be the director of management and budget. he'll replace sylvia burwell. castro and donovan will need to be confirmed by the senate. >>> tennessee is looking for ways around the nation-wide shortage of lethal injection drug using the electrocution share. >> reporter: we've been following this issue for a while. sev

i would left issa speak to the point of why he issued the subpoena.i would guess there are questions relating to begins nghazi that does not relate to document production. >> not something that the secretary of state is probably involved in -- >> a couple of reasons, that he is not involved in document production, and we believed there were more appropriate witnesses. also the way it was done. the second one them up when we were working with a committee to find an accommodation, the second one was released and there was a tweet. it was the manner that we did not find appropriate. we will see if they would like him to testify on the 12th or the 20th. >> ok, but would you prefer if they decided not to have him he would all and then appear before the select committee? >> we believe there are are more appropriate witnesses to appear on that topic, but we said he will appear on the 12th of the 20th and think that takes away any need for him to appear before the select committee. thisdo not want to belabor -- >> i do not want to venture to guess what will h

this coming on the same day when darrell issa issued a subpoena to john kerry. we have more on what that may mean as this investigation gains new momentum. >> with john boehner announcing a special committee to investigate and a key panel -- john kerry to testify, the benghazi investigation is gaining steam. top republicans say those e-mails should have been released to congress months ago and boehner indicated that changed his mind about forming this committee. one republican said the fact these documents only came to light this week and not through the regular committee document request to the white house is deeply troublesome. >> the predicated line of thinking that was politically protecting the president and the state department instead of coming up with the facts about what is happening with benghazi. you have to remember, too, tucker, that the president is involved in this. he's talking about this video at the united nations. this is a smoking gun that's locked and loaded. >> by and large, the american public appears to agree with that assessment. a fox n

issa is accusing the department. of quote failing to meet its legal obligations saying the new subpoena will compel kerry to, quote, answer questions about your agency's response to congressional investigation of the benghazi attack. david corn has been following this. he's an msnbc political analyst. he's also washington bureau chief for mother jones. and michael tomasky is a special correspondent for "the daily beast." gentlemen, you know your stuff here. is there anything here? i've been arguing and watching this thing. i do have a file cabinet in my head. i can follow this thing. it's not like every day is brand-new thing. consistently we've gotten reports that what happened was there was a copycat kind of thing. there was terrorist -- i mean there was protests all over the middle east at that time. cairo was obviously all over the media. that led to kind of a copycat operation in this benghazi facility out there. and, of course, the whole thing seems to have come out of anger in the islamic and arab world about

chairman darrell issa of the oversight and government reform committee. chairman buck mckeon of the armed services committee. chairman ed royce and the foreign affairs committee. and chairman mike rogers and the intelligence committee for their excellent work that has advanced this issue and brought up new facts without their dill -- new facts. without their diligent work, we would not be where we are today. but mr. speaker, that work was thwarted and by this administration not proactively in an open and i believe transparent way addressing the issue equally themselves, they have placed us where we are today. it comes as a result of their -- of -- of their being an unwilling partner. it comes as a result of many, turns, the administration has put up roadblocks to the congressional incarery -- inquiry. whether it's not meeting with congress, delaying the delivery of important document, heavily redacting critical information and retroactively classifying previously unclassified files, this administration earned exactly the title that has been placed on them

seven committees investigated, including chairman issa's committee. there have been 13 congressional hearings, including that high profile hearing with hillary clinton. 25,000 pages of documents have been produced to investigators. the pentagon says the cost of providing information is now in the millions of dollars. and yet amazingly, any moment now we'll get another committee charged with leading a benghazi investigation. because this isn't a search for answers. it's a political stunt. americans with playing politics with it. some in the republican party playing this kind of politics. some are even fundraising off of it. the national republican congressional committee is sticking with its call for donations from so-called benghazi watchdogs. today speaker boehner was asked about that. are you ready to see some real leadership? roll the tape. >> speaker boehner, four americans died in benghazi. should the nrcc fundraise off your efforts with the select committee? >> our focus is on getting the answer to those families who lost their loved ones. perio

issa. mr. forbes. researching. mr. franks. gomert. mr. jordan. e . po e. marino votes ay gowdy votes aye. aye. lding votes . . collins votes aye .r. smith of missouri votes aye mr. conyers votes aye. mr. nadler votes aye. ms. lofgren votes aye. ohen. oe votes aye. otes aye. rez v richmond. ms. bass. e. lben jeffrey. ies. ciciline votes aye. is the gentleman from new york recorded? >> his vote is aye. [laughter] >> has every member voted who wishes to vote? the clerk will report. the gentleman from new york. jeffries votes aye. >> mr. chairman, 30 members and zero members voted no. >> the gentlewoman from texas. jackson-lee votes aye. >> a gentleman from tennessee. hen votes aye. >> your and other trouble we went through for you. [laughter] the ayes have it. the order is reported -- is recorded favorably to the house. without objection, the bill will be reported as a single amendment as a substitute. staff is authorized to make technical changes. >> may ask unanimous consent that the vote record the reopened so this member can add his vote? >> without objec

, excuse me, the reason they have asked him to testify is because of the fact that last august the issaee -- can you argue whether or not john kerry should be subpoenaed, but it wasn't about the attack. it was about something he was in control of. >> he shouldn't be subpoenaed, and i don't know whether this all leads to hillary clinton or some way to embarrass her during the election. >> since you brought it up, can you explain why it was that when the house committee subpoenas all the benghazi documents, they didn't turnover the rhodes memo, but when a court judge orders them to do it, they turnover the ben rhodes document. >> no, i can't explain it. there may be some claim of executive privilege. i think it's posed a political opportunity right at the moment. let me make a couple of comments on benghazi. i know something about this, and the day after the susan rice appearances, i -- or the day after the event i was meeting with some senior intelligence committee folks because i still advise in some capacities on boards to some of our agencies, and i think there was legitimate confusio