Most See GOP Benghazi Probe as Vehicle to Hurt Hillary Clinton Poll Says
Most Americans see the Republican-led congressional committee charged with investigating the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as a partisan effort more geared toward bringing down Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton than gathering the facts, according to a new poll. The Benghazi Select Committee, formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack that killed four Americans, has in recent months turned its attention to Clinton's controversial use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State. The Monmouth University national poll released Wednesday found that 52 of Americans believe the committee is more interested in going after Clinton than learning the facts, while just 32 believe it's more interest in learning the facts. The poll comes a day before Clinton is scheduled to testify before the committee. In recent weeks, Democrats have escalated their attacks on the committee as a partisan witch hunt, seizing on a controversial statement by Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who suggested it was set up to damage her poll numbers. More than anything, the poll seemed to support a statement from Clinton rival Bernie Sanders that Americans are "sick and tired of hearing about her damn emails." In the poll, 59 agreed with that sentiment. The poll of 1,012 adults, conducted Oct. 15-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.