Dem files Ethics complaint on Benghazi panel

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) has filed a House Ethics complaint against Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), accusing them of violating chamber rules and federal law by using the panel as a vehicle to hamper Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.

Grayson, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R) open Florida seat, made the Wednesday filing after controversial comments by McCarthy, the front-runner to take over as House Speaker this fall, in which he highlighted how Clinton’s poll numbers have dropped since the committee’s creation.

{mosads}“The Benghazi Committee has been a political dog-and-pony show for its entire 17-month history,” Grayson said in a statement. “It has been clear even to casual observers that the purpose of the committee was never to investigate the tragic death of four Americans in a terrorist attack; it was to attack Hillary Clinton.”

Grayson’s complaint to the House Ethics Committee notes that Committee funds can’t be used on “campaign-related expenses” and charges that the committee’s purpose is a veiled Republican attack on Clinton, who was secretary of State during the 2012 attack in Libya.

McCarthy’s comments prompted widespread criticism from Democrats, who see them as proof of long-time allegations about the committee.

The Majority Leader has since walked back those remarks, and Gowdy repudiated them  Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“Well, he is a friend, but my first reaction is, ‘Kevin, you’re wrong,’ ” Gowdy said.

“If you look at what we’ve done, the 50-some odd witnesses we’ve already interviewed, not a single one has been named Clinton … The 50,000 documents that we have accessed, that no other committee has accessed, less than 5 percent has anything to do with her.”

Grayson is locked in a Senate primary battle with Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) for the seat being vacated by Rubio as he seeks the White House. Grayson’s campaign has repeatedly attacked Murphy for being one of the seven Democrats to support the committee’s creation. 

Reps. Murphy, Ron Barber (Ariz.), John Barrow (Ga.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.), Collin Peterson (Minn.), Nick Rahall (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) all joined Republicans in voting for the resolution that created the committee in 2014.

Barber, Barrow and Rahall lost reelection bids that year, while McIntyre has since retired.