While three separate House Committees are conducting independent investigations into last year's terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, House Speaker John Boehner convened a special meeting Thursday with chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Government Oversight committees, as well as Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte.
Government Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce and Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers agreed to pool each committee's respective findings into one single report that should be ready in "weeks not months," Fox News reports.
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"There were some members who wanted to have a conversation to kind of compare notes on what we know and what we don't know. And frankly, there's a lot that we still don't know," Boehner said. "It was a friendly exchange of information and some decisions about a way forward."
In an interview, Rep. Rogers said committee members are finding "anomalies" that still need to be assessed.
"We want to make sure that we have a full story of what happened, and where there are conflicting stories, we are going to work to de-conflict them," he said. "I think the report will shed light on those decisions, including senior leadership that may have been involved or may not have been involved."
Asked by Fox News about President Obama's involvement in the U.S. response to the attack, Rogers responded, "or lack of involvement that evening."
In order to make sense of discrepancies in the timeline of events that day, lawmakers said they want to question survivors, as well as government employees and contractors, according to FN.
"There are people who are there, there are people who are decision makers in the intelligence community, in the State Department, in the Department of Defense, and there are people who still want to communicate things," Rogers added.
"And we want to make sure all those folks have an opportunity to have that discussion."
Issues may arise, however, given that Sen. Graham told Fox News that he'd spoken to survivors who claim they have been instructed not to talk.
"I've had contact with some of the survivors," the longtime GOP leader told FN. "Their story is chilling. They feel afraid to tell it. It's important they come forward to tell their story," Graham said. "Some are back working for the government. Some are still injured. The bottom line is they feel that they can't come forth. They've been told to be quiet."
A State Department spokesperson said in a statement: “The CIA respects requests from Congress and we will provide a response through the appropriate oversight committees.”
