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Issa's three-paragraph statement on Kerry's release from testifying on June 12 accused the secretary of state of trying to "squirm" his way out of appearing before the committee. According to Issa, his decision reflected a desire to consolidate the Benghazi investigation to the new select committee established earlier this month. He said he only made the decision after seeing Kerry and other Democrats try to use his testimony as a way to drive a wedge between Issa's committee, which has led the investigation thus far, and the new select committee chaired by Rep. Trey Gowdy.
"Seeing Secretary Kerry and others, who have worked to obstruct critical oversight of Congress' investigations into Benghazi, attempt to use the upcoming June 12 hearing as a shield against the Select Committee tells me it's time to reassess. It's been disappointing to watch a long serving former Senator, like Secretary Kerry, squirm his way to what I'm doing today - releasing him from the upcoming hearing commitment he made only after we issued him a subpoena," Issa said in his statement.
Issa's decision on Friday officially passes the Benghazi investigation torch to the select committee. In his statement, Issa said he was "extremely proud" of his committee's investigation and claimed it poked holes in the Obama administration's initial response to the attack. However, Issa said the unified jurisdiction of the select committee would provide for a more thorough investigation.
"The Select Committee is the House of Representatives' commitment to getting this truth. It will conduct its investigation in the face of an all-hands-on-deck effort by defenders of the principal actors to further obscure the facts," Issa said. "While Speaker Boehner and I had both originally concluded that Secretary Kerry needed to promptly testify and explain why his Department had withheld subpoenaed documents, neither of us immediately recognized how opponents of congressional oversight would use this as an opportunity to distract from the Select Committee's effort."
Kerry agreed to testify before the Oversight Committee last week, but the State Department said this should preclude him from having to appear before the select committee at a future date.
The State Department essentially challenged House Republicans to pick whether they would like Kerry to appear before Oversight or the select committee. Marie Harf, the deputy spokesperson for the State Department, said in the department's daily press briefing last Friday that Kerry "will appear once."
But Amanda Duvall, a spokesman for Gowdy, told Business Insider the Select Committee wouldn't necessarily be satisfied with his testimony before the Oversight Committee. She didn't say whether the select committee was planning to summon Kerry or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but she said the new panel could compel anyone to testify as many times as it needed.
"The Benghazi Select Committee will talk to all material witnesses as many times as necessary to discover all relevant facts and answer all relevant questions in a manner consistent with fair practice and respectful of the witnesses' other responsibilities," Duvall said in an email.