Democrats: Benghazi Investigation Is Just A 'Political Stunt'

On Friday morning, the Democratic National Committee sent out a statement describing the House committee dedicated to investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya as a "ploy" and "political stunt" ahead of this year's midterm elections. The House voted Thursday impanel the committee.

"The House Republicans voted last night on a new political stunt to feed the GOP's base and bolster their campaign coffers, forming a new select committee to investigate Benghazi . . . again," the DNC statement said.

The DNC also included quotes from editorials criticizing the investigation and arguing it is redundant after past GOP probes of the attacks. Republicans have long argued the Obama administration and the Department of State, which was then led by Hillary Clinton, attempting to downplay terrorist ties to the attacks. The controversy was revived late last month when the conservative organization Judicial Watch obtained emails showing White House officials discussing talking points following the attack, which left four Americans dead.

Along with the statement, the DNC released a video accusing the GOP of exploiting Benghazi as part of its "midterm strategy." The video argued Republicans pivoted away from attacks on Obamacare after the number of people who were insured through the law's health care exchanges exceeded initial expectations.

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski told Business Insider the DNC statement showed they are "on defense" about the investigation.

"We understand why the Democrats are continuing to try to deceive Americans on Benghazi - they are on defense and have to continue lying which has been their strategy on Benghazi from the very beginning. The email that the judge forced the White House to declassify last week solidified what we have been saying for a long time - Obama and the Democrats put politics over transparency on Benghazi," Kukowski said. "It is our responsibility to educate people and keep the pressure on the Democrats to answer questions. There's clearly a group of Americans who want answers from the Administration and it's our job to educate the rest of the country on the fact that there are still questions that need to be answered."

Kukowski went on to say the attack should be "an issue" for Clinton, who is widely seen as the Democratic frontrunner in the 2016 presidential election.

"Neither the Obama Administration nor Hillary Clinton have been transparent on this issue. Benghazi is an issue for Hillary Clinton because she was the boss and it's been handled very poorly from the very beginning," said Kukowski.

On Friday, Roll Call reported House Democrats had "several private meetings" about the Benghazi committee and still had not decided how to respond to it.

Watch the DNC's Benghazi video below.