House Republicans on Thursday called on the Obama administration to release a new batch of e-mails that they believe will shed more light on how the White House and the State Department responded in the days after the attacks on American facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
Speaker John A. Boehner, in a written statement, made the request, saying, “The truth shouldn’t be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall.â€
His move was the first of many expected by Republicans in the coming days and weeks to try to force the White House to divulge more documents and allow additional witnesses to testify. Republican-led investigations into the siege on Benghazi â€" which cost four Americans, including the former ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, their lives â€" have been growing in intensity and scope.
Mr. Boehner’s statement came a day after House Republicans held a politically and emotionally charged hearing in which three American officials testified that the military and the State Department could have done more to prevent the attacks and bungled the response.
The Obama administration has accused Congressional Republicans of using their investigative powers to mount a political witch hunt that is designed to embarrass the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state and a leading contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, should she decide to run.
Republicans have tried to link Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton to what they say was an effort to conceal the involvement of terrorists in the attacks. White House officials have said that they based their initial response to the attacks â€" which they said were spurred by an anti-Islamic video â€" on the intelligence they had at the time.
Mr. Boehner said Thursday at a briefing for reporters that there was still much to uncover about what the administration knew about the intelligence at the time. And he vowed to give his committee chairmen who are leading five separate investigations into Benghazi the leeway to issue subpoenas as they see fit.
“Our committees’ interim report quotes specific e-mails where the White House and State Department insist on removing all references to a terrorist attack to protect the State Department from criticism for providing inadequate security,†he said. “I would call on the president to release these unclassified interagency e-mails so the American people can see them.â€
He added, “Frankly, there’s going to be more hearings and more information.â€
Speaking during the hearing on Wednesday, Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said the administration “has made extraordinary efforts to work with five different Congressional committees investigating what happened before, during and after the Benghazi attacks, including over the past eight months testifying in 10 Congressional hearings, holding 20 staff briefings and providing over 25,000 pages of documents.â€
Follow Jeremy W. Peters on Twitter at @ jwpetersNYT .
