Former Speaker of the
House Newt Gingrich blasted the findings of a recent report on the Benghazi terrorist attacks saying the committee had been "co-opted by the CIA."
The bipartisan report issued Friday by the House Intelligence Committee concluded that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya,
Fox News reported.
The report also concluded that there was no wrongdoing by Obama administration officials, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, and no missed opportunity for a military rescue.
"If you ever want to see a committee that had been co-opted by the CIA, that's what this report is about,"
Gingrich told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
"I've talked to four different people who have a real interest in this topic at a professional level and they are all appalled by this report, they believe it is fundamentally misleading."
Gingrich pointed to South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham harsh criticism of the report. Graham said the congressional investigators did a "lousy job."
"I think the report is full of crap," Graham said on CNN's "State of the Union,"
according to Fox News.
Gingrich said Graham was "personally lied to by the deputy director of the CIA. The guy was not held accountable in this report. The guy leaves a White House meeting, goes back and rewrites the talking points in a way that was factually false. You can agree or disagree, but I think this is a very strange report."
The House Select Committee on Benghazi is continuing its separate investigation into the incident and said it was undeterred by the findings in the report.
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