Rep. Trey Gowdy told committee Democrats that he would allow them to read the transcripts of recent witness testimony during business hours. | AP Photo Benghazi panel devolves into partisan war over transcripts

The House Benghazi Committee on Wednesday night erupted in a partisan spat after Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C) sharply restricted the ability of Democrats to access witness transcripts because of Democratic plans to release some of them without GOP consent — a threat Gowdy says would cripple his probe.

Committee Democrats, under the lead of Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, were enraged by the move and argued that Republicans are trying to cut them out while the majority party writes a partisan report.


“Republicans are so desperate to keep us from sharing these facts with the public, they denied Democrats any access to some of these witness transcripts for weeks,” Cummings said in a statement. “Republicans are writing a secret, partisan report that they plan to make public shortly before the election — and they are violating House Rules in order to try to silence Democrats from putting out the facts before then.”

Panel Democrats in mid-February told The Washington Post they were planning to release a slew of transcripts following a Gowdy claim that his panel had made some sort of breakthrough in recent interviews. Gowdy did not say what that breakthrough was and will not discuss his findings until his report is finished, he says.

But the Democratic threat to release transcripts raised alarm with conservatives on the committee, who say they will release the interviews only after they have concluded talking to all witnesses and the report is finished and published.

Earlier, in a Wednesday letter, Gowdy told committee Democrats that he was instituting a new rule that Democrats can read the transcripts of recent witness testimony during business hours by coming over to the majority side. But Democrats would no longer be able to take custody of the material unless they promised not to release them until after the panel publicizes its findings.

“As recently as this afternoon, I offered Mr. Cummings total, unfettered access to, and control of, transcripts if he simply agreed he would not selectively leak them,” Gowdy said in a statement. “He would not give me that assurance. Democrats have threatened to leak more transcripts and therefore I have no choice but to protect past witnesses, future witnesses, confidential material and the integrity of the investigation by allowing the Democrats equitable access but not control.”

Democrats scoffed at that requirement.

“Democrats on the Select Committee will not agree to conditions that prevent us from putting out the facts that witnesses have told the Committee in order to rebut the conspiracy theories about Benghazi,” Cummings said in the statement.

Democrats say the change goes against House Rules that require Democratic members and staff to “be accorded equitable treatment with respect to … the accessibility of committee records.”

Gowdy said he checked with the House parliamentarian before acting and was told he was well within his rights as panel chairman.

The partisan exchange comes as the committee continues its almost two-year long investigation into the deaths of four Americans in Libya. Democrats say the GOP is seeking only to cripple Hillary Clinton in the polls; Republicans say the left is just trying to protect the former secretary of state.

The recent argument foreshadows more to come as the panel prepares to release its findings in the coming months. Gowdy has said he expects to produce a final report sometime this spring or summer.