Mary Troyan

USA Today

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday concluded a two-year investigation into the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi with an 800-page report that blames politically motivated bureaucratic delays for failing to prevent or stop the deadly attacks that claimed four American lives.

The highly anticipated report adds new detail to the findings of seven previous congressional inquiries, and it is expected to be used by Republicans to question Hillary Clinton's leadership just as the fall presidential campaign heats up.

Clinton, who was secretary of State when Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others were killed on Sept. 11, 2012, was planning to visit Libya later that year, which pressured diplomats to stay at the poorly guarded, temporary outpost despite deteriorating security in the region, according to the report.

The report also sheds new light on previous conclusions that the military was unable to respond quickly enough to perform a rescue. The Republicans found that "despite President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s clear orders to deploy military assets, nothing was sent to Benghazi, and nothing was en route to Libya at the time the last two Americans were killed almost 8 hours after the attacks began."

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Republicans highlighted a two-hour teleconference a few hours after the attacks began as a turning point in the U.S. response. They say actions taken after that meeting, in which Clinton participated, only delayed the deployment of military forces. Communications afterward referenced the need to get clearance from various countries to deploy military resources for a rescue, according to the GOP report.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former prosecutor and chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, urged Americans to "read this report for themselves, look at the evidence we have collected, and reach their own conclusions."

Some of his Republican colleagues, however, did reach more pointed conclusions about what was obstructing the military response.

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Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, filed separate "additional views" alleging the U.S. government bureaucracy took steps to protect Obama and Clinton's foreign policy legacy instead of focusing on a rescue. Pompeo said Clinton's leadership throughout the ordeal was "morally reprehensible."

"We expect our government to make every effort to save the lives of Americans who serve in harm's way. That did not happen in Benghazi," Pompeo said. "Politics were put ahead of the lives of Americans, and while the administration had made excuses and blamed the challenges posed by time and distance, the truth is that they did not try."

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Gowdy, in a press conference on Capitol Hill with the other six Republican members of the special committee, refused to draw any conclusions about who in the U.S. government was most culpable and deflected questions about whether he agreed with Pompeo and Jordan's statements about Clinton.

Asked whether the military could have prevented the deaths of the U.S. personnel killed in the later mortar attack, Gowdy said he didn't know.

"I'm not going to make a reckless allegation that Ty Woods and Glen Doherty's lives could have been saved," Gowdy said. "What I am going to tell you is if the mortar (attack) had happened at 7:15, or 9:15, or 11:15, the result would have been the same. Nothing was ever coming to Benghazi."

Clinton, on the campaign trail in Denver, responded to the report.

"I have said from the very beginning nothing is more important than the safety and security of our diplomats and development officials who go into dangerous places around the world pursuing American values, interests and our security," Clinton said. "And I said this when I testified for 11 hours that no one has thought more about or lost more sleep over the lives that we lost, the four Americans, which was devastating. ... And we owe it to those brave Americans to make sure that we learn the right lessons from this tragedy."

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House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the report “makes clear that officials in Washington failed our men and women on the ground when they were in need of help. ... We must ensure that those who hold positions of responsibility do better for the men and women who serve in harm’s way.”

Democrats on the panel, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., have repeatedly accused the Republicans of using the investigation and numerous previous committee probes to try to embarrass Clinton and damage her chances of becoming president. They released their own minority report a day ahead of the Republicans, contending the report absolves Clinton of blame in the terror attacks.

Democrats, in their Monday report, highlighted the testimony of Pentagon officials who said diplomatic clearances were not necessary and emails mentioning them did not slow the response.

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“I recall reading the email summary of the (secure video teleconference) that had arose in that conversation. And my view was that it was irrelevant, that if we needed to deploy forces to protect American lives, that we have the legal authority, and we have the, indeed, the obligation to do so,” said James Miller, who was undersecretary of Defense for policy, according to the portion of the transcript released by Democrats.

The different partisan interpretations of such evidence, which has largely defined debate over Benghazi for almost four years, is likely to persist after the release of the two competing reports.

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In a statement, Clinton's campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said the House investigation, after spending more than $7 million, "just confirms what Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and even one of Trey Gowdy's own former staffers admitted months ago: This committee's chief goal is to politicize the deaths of four brave Americans in order to try to attack the Obama administration and hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign."

The GOP report makes several recommendations, including that no diplomatic facility should remain in temporary status for more than 180 days without the express approval of the secretary of state, and that the State Department should dedicate a funding source for immediate security upgrades for posts in high threat areas.

Gordon Trowbridge, the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary, said Tuesday "even though, as the select committee's chairman has previously acknowledged, it was impossible for the U.S. military to have changed the outcome at Benghazi under the circumstances, the department has made substantial changes to improve our responsiveness based on lessons learned from this incident.”

Trowbridge said the Pentagon has bolstered the Marine Corps’ ability to respond to emergencies at embassies. More Marine guards have been posted to high-risk embassies and quick-reaction teams have been created to respond to crises. He also noted that two service members did respond to the 2012 attacks shortly after the besieged compound took mortar fire, and "their actions were credited with saving several lives."

Gowdy has scheduled a July 8 meeting of the committee to discuss and vote on the final report.

Contributing: Paul Singer, Gregory Korte and Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, and Craig Gilbert, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.