12 Oversight Committe Democrats Flee Benghazi Hearing Before Family Members Testify

A dozen Democrats left Thursday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the Benghazi attacks and did not hear testimony from family members of those murdered last September.

According to Frederick Hill, spokesman for Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) 14 Democrats were present during the hearing’s first panel, which included testimony from ambassador Thomas Pickering and admiral Michael Mullen, the chair and vice chair of the Accountability Review Board, the body that investigated the attacks.

When the second panel began, however, Issa tweeted a picture showing a Democratic desertion. Only Representatives Jackie Speier (Calif.) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (Md.) stayed for the second panel to hear testimony from Patricia Smith, mother of Sean Smith, an information management officer, and Charles Woods, father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods.