Benghazi chairman to GOP colleagues: Not on panel? Shut up

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House committee investigating the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 disputed claims that the probe targeting then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the attacks is politically motivated.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation” he has told Republican colleagues to 'shut up talking about things that you don't know anything about. And unless you're on the committee, you have no idea what we have done, why we have done it and what new facts we have found.”

Clinton is to testify Thursday. She called the panel 'a partisan arm of the Republican National Committee.”

'I already testified about Benghazi. I testified to the best of my ability before the Senate and the House. I don't know that I have very much to add,” Clinton said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union.” 'I will do my best to answer their questions, but I don't really know what their objective is right now.”

Democrats long have accused the House Select Committee on Benghazi of carrying out a drawn-out, costly and overtly political investigation, but some of the more recent accusations have been leveled by Republicans themselves.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., suggested in a recent Fox News interview that the committee was formed to drive down Clinton's poll numbers. Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., and Bradley Podliska, a former Republican staffer on the committee, also called the investigation politically motivated.

Gowdy said McCarthy, Hanna and Podliska are 'three people who don't have any idea what they're talking about.”

'Four dead Americans is more than enough work for me,” he said. 'She's (Clinton) a witness. She was the secretary of state. You have to talk to her.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, remained skeptical of Gowdy's comments.

'It's interesting that after 17 months, $4.7 million and counting of taxpayer money, that Chairman Gowdy is now saying he has another two dozen witnesses to interview. It's very interesting,” Cummings said on 'Face the Nation.”