US Select Committee on Benghazi Makes ‘Significant Breakthroughs’

The US Select Committee on Benghazi has made enormous progress toward completing the report on the terrorist attack on the US diplomatic compound in Libya, Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said in a statement on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The chairman explained that the progress has been made following a series of interviews with high-ranking witnesses, including US National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.

"While there are still witnesses to talk to and documents to review, these significant breakthroughs are big wins that will help the committee complete the most comprehensive investigation into what happened before, during and after the Benghazi terrorist attacks, and release a report as soon as possible," Gowdy said.

"In addition, just last week, the committee gained access to crucial national security records we sought for nearly a year — records no other investigation has seen," Gowdy said.

In September 2012, US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other government employees were killed in a terrorist attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Republican lawmakers claim the White House and State Department did not send military back-up to the besieged diplomats in Benghazi to avoid publicly admitting the attack was carried by al-Qaida-backed terrorists. The Obama administration had previously said it decimated the terrorist network by killing its leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.