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Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) issued the following statement supporting Speaker Boehner's decision to appoint a Select Committee to investigate the September 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans including our U.S. Ambassador:

“After twenty months of searching for answers, the families of four brave Americans serving in Benghazi, Libya, have yet to have their most basic questions answered about what happened to their loved ones on September 11, 2012 – the eleventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

“It came to light earlier this week that the Obama Administration has withheld key documents – in violation of Congressional subpoenas that requested all such documents – and have obstructed Congressional Committees charged with conducting oversight investigations into the Benghazi attacks. From day one the Administration has sought to foster a false narrative of the events of that day and struggled to answer simple questions.

“For weeks after the attack, Administration officials and the President asserted that a spontaneous protest over an obscure YouTube video sparked a riot that got out of hand on September 11th. Why was that done? We know the State Department and Libyan officials knew within hours of the attack that it was a coordinated terrorist attack.

“Furthermore, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee raises even more questions about Benghazi and the narrative presented by the Administration in the immediate aftermath of the attack. According to the report, both the CIA and FBI reviewed the closed circuit security footage from the consulate and found there was no protest. Top CIA officials even received messages from the CIA Station Chief in Tripoli that the attacks did not result from the escalation of a protest.

“We also now know that despite frantic requests for assistance from State Department officials on the ground in Libya, authorization for help from nearby military forces and CIA officers were all rejected by those higher up the chain of command. Why?

“As a cosponsor of legislation to create a Select Committee to fully investigate Benghazi, I am pleased that this will now move forward. The families of those brave Americans who lost their lives that day deserve answers and clearly there has been an unwillingness to provide the families, the Congress, and the American people with all of the facts.”