House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on CNN Tuesday attempted to shift the blame for the disastrous handling of the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya from the Obama administration onto Republican lawmakers, arguing they withheld $300 million in funding that could have provided much-needed security at the consulate.
Appearing on Wolf Blitzer's CNN show, Pelosi also said calls coming from the GOP to investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi are likely politically motivated.
“So, are you saying this is political from their perspective,” Blitzer asked the congresswoman.
"One might suspect that," she replied.
Blitzer began the segment by reading part of the letter sent by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today, in which the lawmakers argue that numerous requests for increased security were rejected by the Secretary of State.
Mediaite tracks some of the back-and-forth conversation that ensued:
“It’s also important to note that the Republican appropriation Congress gave the administration $300 million less than it asked for for the State Department, including funding for security,” said Pelosi.“Are you suggesting that there was a financial aspect to what happened in Benghazi, Libya,” Blitzer asked. “That the U.S. was not enough money to protect American diplomats?”
Pelosi said that the Congress has the power of the purse, and that no one would know exactly what happened in Benghazi in the near future. “But we also have to look to ourselves in terms of that funding question,” said Pelosi.
She went on to slam Republicans for not holding a full hearing on the events on Benghazi and said that Democrats had held a hearing on Medicare without Republicans.
Watch the segment via CNN/Mediaite here:
