and i agree with mr. gowdy. as members of congress we're constantly bumping heads against one administration or another. we want to interview every witness. when you get to the point where you do say no, well, then maybe we'll have an argument but you haven't said no. the documents -- you're trying to generate the document request, as i understand it included a request for two years worth of information from about i don't know 14 different people all around libya. and in the year of e-mails and texts and everything else, that's a heck of a lot of information to find. good luck finding it. and i see no evidence that either of these gentlemen are not trying their best to find it and provide it for us. i don't know if you're going to find everything. but it is clear that there is no stonewalling effort here. that the reason that we've moved so slow is because the decisions made by the committee. now again, and, you know i tend to be a little bit more impatient than our ranking member. that's why he's got the top jo

the clerk: mr. gowdy of south carolina, chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces that the speaker has delivered to the clerk letter dated january 6 listing members in the order in which each shall act as speaker pro tempore under clause 8-b-3 of rule 1. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker house of representatives, the honorable the clerk, house of representatives, madam clerk, i hereby designate representative kevin mccarthy of california to exercise any authority regarding assembly, reassembly, convening or reconvening of the house pursuant to house concurrent resolution 1, clause 12 of rule 1, and any concurrent resolutions of the concurrent congress as macon template my designation of members to exercise similar authority. in the event of the death or inability of that designee, the alternate members of the house listed in the letter with this date i have placed with the clerk are recognized for the same purposes, signed, sincerely, john boehner, speaker. the speaker

mr. gowdy: thank you, your honor. madam speaker, president obama announced one of the largest extra constitutional power grabs ever by a chief executive. he declared unilaterally that almost five million undocumented aliens will receive deferred action under some newfangled definition of prosecutorial discretion, madam speaker. not only that not only escaping consequences, he has decided to bestow benefits such as work authorization and immigration benefits. this, madam speaker despite the fact that the very same president over 20 different times said he lacked the power to do what he just did. and he repeatedly said he's not a king. madam speaker, his position may have changed, after the election i hasten to add, but the constitution has not. that document is clear, time tested, and true and it says that this body passes laws and it is the responsibility of the chief executive madam speaker, to make sure that those laws are faithfully enforced. if this president's unilateral extra constitutional acts are not stopped

one thing i want to make clear for mr. gowdy is he will never get everything will question answered, and he will never get every single document. i have been a legislator for 24 years and prosecutor for very long time, and i've never encountered a time in history where every question gets answered. it is frustrating. then, amongst those six witnesses, you get six different stories. we will not get every single question answered. delay that promise out to the families involved, to the people's lives were destroyed by this, that we will somehow answer every question when no other investigative committee in the history of the world has been able to answer every field question, that is unfair. that is not what we are doing . we have nine separate investigations that have been done. for democrats, the concern on this committee is whether or not this committee have a clear purpose. or is that purpose clearly partisan? the other thing i will readily admit is that benghazi was an awful incident in our nation's history. the people who we

congressman trey gowdy. mr. chairman, good to see you and if you will characterize that answer from the state department, the assistant deputy secretary of state on the witnesses. >> well lou, thank you for having me on. that's just a rote boiler plate response that you get sometimes from the administration that if you want talk to a witness that's going to jeopardize their security or impact an ongoing prosecution, so the first thing you have to say is look, mr. state department official we have no interest in jeopardizing anyone's security we are not going to do that. you don't need to be concerned about the person's security. secondarily, i know a little about prosecutions the last thing we want to do is jeopardize our chances of getting a convictions against khatallah. so those are just two kind of boiler plate always in the letter responses you get from the state department neither of which can withstand scrutiny. lou: a lot of people right now are trying to collect themselves after you said the justice dep

congressman trey gowdy. mr. chairman, good to see you and if you will characterize that answer from the state department, the assistant deputy secretary of state on the witnesses. >> well lou, thank you for having me on. that's just a rote boiler plate response that you get sometimes from the administration that if you want talk to a witness that's going to jeopardize their security or impact an ongoing prosecution, so the first thing you have to say is look, mr. state department official we have no interest in jeopardizing anyone's security we are not going to do that. you don't need to be concerned about the person's security. secondarily, i know a little about prosecutions the last thing we want to do is jeopardize our chances of getting a convictions against khatallah. so those are just two kind of boiler plate always in the letter responses you get from the state department neither of which can withstand scrutiny. lou: a lot of people right now are trying to collect themselves after you said the justice dep

the select committee on benghazi, congressman trey gowdy, who also serves on the judiciary committee, the oversight and government reform committee. mrchairman, good to see you and if you will, characterize that answer from the state department, the assistant deputy secretary of state, on the witnesses. >> well, lou, thank you for having me on. that's just a boilerplate response you get sometimes from the administration that if you want to talk to a witness it's going to jeopardize their security or impact an ongoing prosecution, so the first thing you have to say is look, mr. state department official we have no interest in jeopardizing anyone's security, so we're not going to do that. you don't need to be concerned about security. secondarily, i know a little something about criminal prosecutions. the last thing we want to do is jeopardize our chances of getting a conviction but the department of justice has been much easier to work with on this issue than the state department. so those are just two kind of boilerplate, always in the letter responses you get from the state department, neither of which can withstand scrutiny. >> a l

gowdy joins us. good evening sir. >> good evening. how are you? >> i'm very well. mr. chairman, if she does testify, what do you want to ask her? >> well, i have questions in all three trawnchs, greta. starting with the benghazi met no suture standards whatsoever. why was it open? if you look at the arb situations from past strategies the secretary of state is supposed to take a personal interest and personally review the security. so i want to ask her if she did and that middle trawnch you know secretary clinton ran an ad during the 2008 campaign about a 3:00 in the morning phone call. well, that phone call came. i think it's fair to ask madam secretary, what did you do during the pendency of those attacks? and then lastly, of course the talking points, what role, if any -- we know she didn't go on the sunday talk show susan rice did. we don't know why she didn't go. and we don't know when she realized the video and protest narrative was demonstrably false. >> one of the questions i have not for secretary of state hillary clinton but on another issue is that yesterday

mr. rubin you are recognized for your five-minute opening statement. >> thank you chairman gowdy ranking member cummings and distinguished members of the committee. it's an honor to be with you and thank you for providing me with the opportunity to give testimony to your committee this morning. my name is joel rubin, and i'm the deputy assistant secretary of state for house affairs in the department's legislative affairs bureau. in this role, i serve as the department's chief liaison to the house. responsible for ensuring that the multitude of foreign policy issues that the house cares about, from fighting terrorism, to preventing a nuclear iran, to expanding our economic alliances in asia to supporting your constituents when they travel overseas, are dealt with both efficiently and effectively. i've served in the federal government for more than a decade including bethesda hill staffer and as a civil servant in the state department during the bush administration. i work closely with committees and leadership in the house on a daily basis ensuring that the department's relationships and

the clerk: mr. gowdy of south carolina, chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces that the speaker has delivered to the clerk letter dated january 6 listing members in the order in which each shall act as speaker pro tempore under clause 8-b-3 of rule 1. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker house of representatives, the honorable the clerk, house of representatives, madam clerk, i hereby designate representative kevin mccarthy of california to exercise any authority regarding assembly, reassembly, convening or reconvening of the house pursuant to house concurrent resolution 1, clause 12 of rule 1, and any concurrent resolutions of the concurrent congress as macon template my designation of members to exercise similar authority. in the event of the death or inability of that designee, the alternate members of the house listed in the letter with this date i have placed with the clerk are recognized for the same purposes, signed, sincerely, john boehner, speaker. the speaker