OVERNIGHT DEFENSE: House Benghazi chief pushing ahead

by Martin Matishak and Kristina Wong - 12/10/14 6:58 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The chairman of the special House committee looking into the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya vowed Wednesday that his panel would produce a comprehensive account of the deadly assault.

“I remain keenly aware there are those on both sides of the aisle who have concluded all questions have been answered. There is nothing left to do. No more witnesses to talk to. No more documents to review,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said at the start of the panel’s second hearing.

{mosads}He pledged the committee would not “move on” until there is a full understanding of how the security broke down around the diplomatic mission and why requests for additional personnel and equipment were denied in the months leading up to the attack.

“We will have hearings in January, February, March and until there is a full understanding of what happened in Benghazi. That means access all documents and all witnesses. We are going to answer the questions surrounding the attacks in Benghazi. We may answer some more than once,” Gowdy said.

GOWDY WANTS CLINTON: The exact path forward could be complicated as Gowdy and Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the panel’s top Democrat, split on whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should appear before the panel.

Clinton is “a witness that we would like to talk to. I cannot tell you when,” Gowdy said.

Cummings said he would oppose calling on Clinton to testify because the State Department’s Accountability Review Board that investigated Benghazi had already talked to her.

On Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) grilled the panel’s key witness over why the State Department had a facility in Libya at all.

“The number one question I get … is, ‘Why were we there?’ ‘Why were we there?’ ” Jordan asked.

“What was so important to be in Benghazi?” he asked.

SENATE DEM CALLS FOR CIA ‘PURGE’: Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) called on President Obama to “purge” his administration of the CIA officials involved in the “enhanced interrogation” program a day after a Senate report asserting the agency tortured detainees and misled Congress.

“It’s bad enough to not prosecute these officials but to reward and promote them is incomprehensible,” Udall said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “The president needs to purge his administration.”

Udall reiterated his call for the resignation of CIA Director John Brennan, saying he should no longer lead the agency because officials hacked into the Intelligence Committee’s computers during their investigation. He also accused the CIA of deleting a file and Brennan and other officials of lying and making false statements about the program.

Udall also criticized Obama, saying he has failed to live up to his campaign promises about transparency and accountability over the CIA’s practices.

“To date there has been no accountability for the CIA’s actions or the actions of Director Brennan,” said Udall, who is leaving the Senate this month after losing his bid for reelection.

WH DEFENDS CIA CHIEF: The White House stood by CIA Director John Brennan, despite calls for his resignation, calling him “a decorated professional and patriot.”

Brennan has acknowledged that the agency “made mistakes” but has defended the enhanced interrogations, saying they yielded “intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives.”

“Mr. Brennan worked here in the White House for four years as the president’s top homeland security adviser. And Mr. Brennan has continued his service as the director of the CIA. The president believes that he has done an exemplary job in both of those roles,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Earnest said repeatedly that it was up to the Department of Justice to determine whether there was a need for criminal prosecutions of those involved in the program, but said the department acted appropriately in opting not to bring charges against intelligence officials.

Obama has “confidence in the criminal justice system” as well as “the professionalism of the prosecutors who reviewed this matter,” he said.

DOJ WON’T REOPEN PROBE: The Justice Department said Wednesday it will not reopen an investigation into the CIA program.

Investigators reviewed the Intelligence Committee’s report and “did not find any new information that they had not previously considered in reaching their determination,” the department said.

A 2009 review under the authority of Attorney General Eric Holder led to two criminal investigations but no prosecutions because “the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain convictions beyond a reasonable doubt,” the department added.

‘LAST CHANCE’ FOR DEFENSE BILL?: The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee urged their colleagues to pass the $585 billion defense policy bill, saying there were no other options.

“Our last chance is this week,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said on the Senate floor. “It just couldn’t happen if it isn’t this bill.”

Some Republicans have objected to approving the legislation, which was hammered out by House and Senate negotiators, quickly because it includes unrelated public land measures.

Inhofe admitted that the process of including lands bills in the national defense authorization act (NDAA) is “flawed” but said “it would be a disaster” not to pass the overall package.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) lambasted bill’s authors.

“We’ve been told by the Senate majority leader the only way to support our soldiers is to support a distorted legislative process,” Lee said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “The American people and especially those serving in uniform deserve better. … I think we can and I think we must.”

Both chambers had hoped to adjourn for the year on Thursday. The House might achieve that goal, but the Senate could work this weekend.

Congress has reauthorized the NDAA for 52 consecutive years. The legislation authorizes spending for Pentagon programs for fiscal 2015.

SYRIA REBEL PROGRAM MONTHS AWAY: A program to train and equip 5,000 moderate Syrian rebels won’t start until March, and would not be completed until a year later, in March 2016, said a senior State Department official on Wednesday.

“The training we hope will start in March,” Brett McGurk, deputy special presidential envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle expressed concern the program wasn’t moving fast enough to be effective against ISIS.

“There’s no telling what ISIS can do in that year, and however many months it is,” said Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), a member of the committee.

“What are we doing in Syria right now? People are dying right now, and the cavalry isn’t showing up until 2016,” he said.

“I don’t know anyone who seriously thinks that you can train effectively, even with successful vetting, 5,000 insurgents who are moderate and maybe secular, and they’re going to be reintroduced to Syria, and turn the tide,” said Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.).

The discussion comes as Congress is poised to pass a 2015 defense policy bill that would extend the program for another two years.

Congress first approved the $500 million program in September as part of the president’s strategy to degrade and defeat ISIS.

McGurk said training the Syria rebels would put pressure on Assad to step down, though he admitted they would not be able to remove him.

“We do not see a situation in which the rebels are able to remove him from power. It will have to be a negotiated, diplomatic process,” McGurk said.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

-WH: ‘Absolutely’ no plan to deploy ground troops

-Hagel: ‘Hope is not a strategy‘

-Top military official calls for ‘review’ of transgender ban

-Former CIA officer to join House Homeland panel

-Senate passes Coast Guard authorization bill

Please send tips and comments to Kristina Wong, kwong@digital-stage.thehill.com, and Martin Matishak, mmatishak@digital-stage.thehill.com.