Issa plans depositions for Mullen, Pickering

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican chairman of the House oversight panel is asking a veteran diplomat and a former chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff for sworn testimony about their investigation into the deaths of four Americans at a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.

Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, planned on Monday to seek depositions from retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen. Issa, who is leading Republicans' investigations into the attacks on a State Department consulate last September, said he wants to know with whom the pair spoke to reach their conclusion that then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did not direct the response to the pair of nighttime attacks in Libya.

"This is a failure, it needs to be investigated. Our committee can investigate. Now, Ambassador Pickering, his people and he refused to come before our committee," Issa said Sunday.

Pickering, sitting next to Issa during an appearance on one Sunday show, disputed the chairman's account and said that he was willing to testify before the committee.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130513/DA68AKI00.html

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In this Sept. 14, 2012 file photo, Libyan military guards check one of the U.S. Consulate's burnt out buildings during a visit by Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif, not shown, to the U.S. Consulate to express sympathy for the death of the American ambassador, Chris Stevens and his colleagues in the deadly attack on the Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Senior State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used after the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya last September, expressing concerns that Congress might criticize the Obama administration for ignoring warnings of a growing threat in Benghazi. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

[CBHagman]

1. Deposing the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

...strikes me as overkill even for Issa.

Shark, pay no attention to the congressman leaping over you.

[Ikonoklast]

4. I am fairly certain that Mullen or his surrogates will call upon his

congressional acquaintances on the committeeand remind them that Issa is treading upon some very big toes here, with no real reason to do so except politics and those going along with it will be remembered, not fondly.

[Beacool]

6. They are being heavy handed as is their usual.

The whole Benghazi thing has become so over the top that it will eventually backfire on them.

[fasttense]

2. Tell the Repub that you'll do it as soon as Rove gives his sworn testimony. n/t

[DainBramaged]

3. Alarm boy's fishing expedition is nearing an end, and Happy Gregory actually did his job Sunday

out of bait Darrel?

[Beacool]

5. God, am I tired of these people!!!!!

Who are the morons who elected them to Congress? They should be forbidden from ever voting again.

Drop dead, Issa, and take with you your bagger buddies!!!!!!!!!

[santamargarita]

7. Here we go, the fascist pigs will give us a second by

second line of bullshit. It's bullshit grandstanding and this is last time I'll read anything about it.
Fuck it and Fuck them!!!
Please forgive me if you feel I'm ranting on your post, that's not my purpose, it's just I hate the fascist media.

[Dawson Leery]

8. See what happens when you do not vote?

[DCBob]

9. Their testimony will probably deflate the controversy.

Mullen and Pickering have good credibility and most who previously thought this was a scandal will finally realize this is a partisan witchhunt.