In a column published in
The Hill a day before the second anniversary of the fatal terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Democratic consultant James Carville contends Republicans have failed to prove any wrongdoing on the part of the Obama administration.
"The truth has been revealed over and over again, and all of the questions have been answered. No matter how hard they try, they can't beat the facts," he writes.
Carville also dismisses new allegations made in Mitchell Zuckoff's new book
"13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi," that members of a U.S. security team were delayed in responding to the assault on the CIA annex that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
In fact, he writes, the book clears former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of any wrongdoing.
The book "has all but put a fork in Team GOP's hopes to defeat Clinton. The book alleges that a 'stand-down order' was given ... and once again, Hillary Clinton isn't anywhere near it, deflating the one remaining conspiracy theory Hail Mary they had," Carville argues.
In an interview with Fox News, the three members of a U.S. security team in Benghazi on whose accounts the book is based counter Carville's assertion that administration officials did not order a delay.
Speaking out publicly for the first time, the security contractors — Kris ("Tanto") Paronto, Mark ("Oz") Geist, and John ("Tig") Tiegen — say they were told to hold their positions, rather than heading to the CIA annex.
"It had probably been 15 minutes I think, and … I just said, 'Hey, you know, we gotta — we need to get over there, we're losing the initiative,'" Tiegen told Fox News' Bret Baier in an exclusive interview. "And Bob just looks straight at me and said, 'Stand down, you need to wait.'"
The team responded 30 minutes later.
"The committee has heard of these concerns, and they go to the heart of why Congress established this committee — to determine all of the facts of what happened in Benghazi before, during, and after the terrorist attack that day," Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman
Trey Gowdy said in a statement Sept. 5, after the contractors' assertions were made public.
"There are still facts to learn about Benghazi and information that needs to be explained in greater detail to the American people. And this committee will do just that," he added.
In May, House Speaker John Boehner tapped Gowdy to lead the bipartisan House committee's
investigation of the attack and subsequent reviews of the administration's actions.
Since its inception, the committee has been reviewing reports on the attack and interviewing individuals in the region during the time of the attack.
The focus of the committee's first public hearing next week will be the 2012 report released by the State Department's Accountability Review Board, according to
Fox News.
According to the
State Department's report, the "board members believe every possible effort was made to rescue and recover Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith," and that "there simply was not enough time for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference."
The report also concluded that "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department" led to a "security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."