Congressional Republicans are using their Benghazi investigation as political "subterfuge" to distract from other issues, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday.

Pelosi said it's important to find out what happened in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. But the right is taking it too far, she said in an interview with MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry.

"The obsession that some of my Republican colleagues have in the House doesn't look like it's on the path to really finding a solution, but just to keeping an issue alive," she said.

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House Republicans held a day-long hearing this week on the Benghazi attacks, focusing on security at the consulate as well as the way the administration described the attack.

"We certainly have to give the full attention Benghazi deserves, but we cannot let it soak up all of the congressional attention," Pelosi said. "What would be the purpose of that?"

The issue has also dominated conservative media.

"We want to find out what did happen, but … then it becomes an issue that is subterfuge: 'Let's talk about Benghazi forever, so we don't have to talk about what the American people want us to talk about,'" Pelosi said. "They want us to talk about jobs, they want us to talk about economic security, economic growth."

Republicans have accused the administration of downplaying the attack, citing initial talking points that described it as a protest over an anti-Islamic YouTube video rather than a coordinated terrorist attack.

Some Republicans have also questioned whether the administration refused requests for additional security in Benghazi.

"Much of what is being said out there by some of my colleagues in Congress is simply not true … it simply isn't true," Pelosi said. "So we have to make sure the public record is clear."







