Appointing to this House Select Committee on benghazi. Lets have a huge discussion on this, the ramifications, politically, et cetera, with wolf blitzer and mime willis congressional reporter for the hill. Mike, let me begin with you. Do we know specifically what led to this decision on behalf of leader pelosi to say, yes, we will participate. It had been a tough question for the democrats. In the end i think very simply they decided to have a seat at the table of this investigation than be on the sidelines. It has divided the caucus over the past two weeks. There was one camp that said we have to boycott it, if we participate were legitimizing something thats essentially a witch hunt, that republicans want to embarrass the white house. There was another camp that said, wait a minute, this panel is going to have subpoena power. Its going to bring in witnesses, could bring in Hillary Clinton. If we dont have democrats at the table to defend the white house, president obama, we receiveded too much power. In the end nancy pelosi agreed and thats what were about to watch. As we wait to hear from leader pelosi, shell be naming names, what kind of ramifications, if any, would there be for these members of congress politically speaking sitting on this committee . I dont think there would be any negative ramifications. These are all experienced democrats who will be on the panel, seven republicans, five democrats. If you take a look at the five democrats, theyve already released the list of who they will be. Some are very experienced in these matters. Some have been involved in other hearings involving benghazi. You see the five up there. Elijah cummings, the Ranking Member on this House Committee. Darrell issa, the special Government Affairs committee looking into benghazi. Elijah cummings is from his perspective trying to keep darrell issa honest. Adam smith, Ranking Member of the Armed Services committee, adam schiff from the subcommittee on state and foreign operations, permanent member of the intelligence committee. Linda sanchez, member of the house ways and means committee, subcommittee on oversight, Tammy Duckworth, a member of the Armed Services committee, also the committee on oversight and government reform. All of them are deeply experienced. They have all spent a lot of time looking into earlier investigations into benghazi. The argument, as mike points out, was very simple. If you dont participate, the seven republicans are going to do whatever they want. That wont be a defender, if you will, of Hillary Clinton when she comes to testify if they call her or others who come to testify. So in the end, nancy pelosi decided better to be at the table than to be away. Gentlemen, stay with me. I want to bring in one more voice, our chief Congressional Correspondent dana bash. Dana, as we await speaker pelosi, weve seen the face of five different democrats sitting on this House Select Committee. Do you agree basically this is about having a seat at the table for the dems. Thats absolutely the reason that they made this decision. I really cant emphasize enough how much of a riff there was within the House Democratic caucus about the strategy here. It has been going on for over two weeks. It lasted through the entire weefk last week when they were home on recess, trying to come to terms. Theres not a philosophical devise. They believe this select committee is politically motivated. The question was political strategy, whether or not it was the right thing to do to get involved, whether that looks like a rubber stamp or blessing the idea of this committee or to just boycott and risk, as others have said, not having a seat at the table and not participating. The other thing that needs to be talked about here is Hillary Clinton. Democrats on capitol hill think its about her and they dont want her to be out there without democrats defending her. Can we talk about, though, as far as the investigation goes, and i want to hear from every single one of you wolf, let me go back to you. When it comes to this investigation, what are some of the Unanswered Questions as it pertains to benghazi . I think the major question that republicans want answered, people at the white house, what was their direct involvement from the president , the Vice President , the National Security adviser and others on down. Theyve gotten a lot of information from what was going on at the state department, a lot of documents and information, what was going on at the u. S. Military, the pentagon, the Africa Command and other u. S. Military operations in the intelligence community, theyve gotten significant information. Republicans believe theres still a lot of information out there that the administration has not made available, specifically information as to what the white house was doing, what the president of the United States specifically was doing. Thats what they say they want. Thats presumably what theyre hoping to get in the course of the select committee hearings. Mike, what else . We talked with darrell issa who has been conducting a probe into this for over a year, from the House Oversight and government reform committee. He has said the focus is shifting to the white house. There were four committees in the white house that looked at it under their jurisdiction. The sense was that after the ben rhodes came out, the damning email where the accusation was they were coaching different officials to go on the sunday shows. The talking points issue. Once that email came out, john boehner who resisted the committee for months and months and months flipped the switch and said now weve got to do it because the white house is involved. Im keeping my eye on that podium. Were going to hit pause until we see leader pelosi, we want to move on. Another major story out of washington. President obama finally responds to this alleged coverup involving veterans medical care that cnn revealed. Listen. Heads may roll over this. For now it wont be secretary shinseki. Cnn reported 40 vets died while waiting for care at a va hospital. And now you have look at the map, well show you, 26 va facilities nationwide now under investigation for allegedly faking wait lists or other records, all the while possibly risking the health of people who have dedicated lives in their country. If these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful and i will not tolerate it, period. Here is what i discussed with secretary shinseki this morning. First, anybody found to have manipulated or falsified records at va facilities has to be held accountable. The Inspector General at the va has launched investigations into the phoenix va and other facilities. Some individuals have already been put on administrative leave. I know the people are angry and want swift reckoning. I sympathize with that, but we have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened. We have to talk about this, mike willits, youre wearing this story, congressional reporter from the hill. Cnns drew griffin live in phoenix. It was drew and this team that broke this story wide open. Drew, beginning with you, president obama, he says he will not stand for this. We know that the white house has been aware of some of these problems for years. We knew he had to address this publicly, what really did we learn today . Brooke, i think we learned even though the delays in care and death haves been documented, even though there have been multiple investigations and reports that schoeman into lags of records and hidden wait times going on for years, and even though its obvious based on our current reporting that the problems persist and may even be getting worse, the president , at least for now, is sticking by his man who for five years has failed to do anything about the problem. The president i thought today was echoing what Eric Shinseki told the Committee Last week, im mad as hell, but have patience and well get to the bottom of it. Many veterans groups have run out of patience. He may be standing by his man. But mike, when we saw obama today speaking before members of the press corps who was not there, was not, secretary shinseki. Whats the significance of that . He doesnt want to float the guy out there. Hes the embattled one, hes just testified before the senate. He made some public statements that werent received very well. It certainly didnt appease any of the republicans who immediately after obama was done speaking, were shooting out email blasts saying too little, too late, this guy still needs to go. He doesnt have the public face and obama thought this rose to the level where he has to finally address it. I think interesting to note that every time obama said, you know, im still with shinseki, hes still my guy, still interested in fixing the problem. Were not ruling out getting rid of anybody who committed wrongdoing, as high as that is going to go. Well wait and see, but this guy is in trouble i think. Drew, what about phoenix, the original low cakes where you and your reporting discovered these fake wait lists existed. Now we learned that the phoenix va director got a pretty nice bonus last month in addition to last year, correct . Thats right. I think this is what they call in d. C. Bad optics. Out here in phoenix they call it disgusting. The director of the phoenix va in april at the very same time the Inspector General was out here investigating allegations manage 789 received an 8,500 bonus. This is just last month. The va has explained this to congress as some sort of a lowlevel clerical error. But, again, it is as i said, brooke, bad optics and disgusting. It is disgusting. Drew griffin thank you so much for your reporting. Mike willits, thank you. Stay with me, well keep a close eye on what were seeing on capitol hill, watching and waiting for house leader nancy pelosi to speak about the House Committee members selected. Also ahead, she says armed men killed her dad, her brother, burned down her church, burned down her school and today she is on american soil testifying about her encounter with the very same terror Group Responsible for kidnapping hundreds of school girls. You will hear directly from her. Plus, any moment now, president obama will be welcoming the super bowl champs to the white house. What will Richard Sherman say . Remember him . Thats coming up next. Stay with me. The projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. Angies list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. Youll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. Now that were expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angies list and look for pediatricians. The Service Providers that ive found on angies list actually have blown me away. Find out why more than two million members count on angies list. Angies list reviews you can trust. You wouldnt have it she any other way. Our toes. But your erectile dysfunction it could be a question of blood flow. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moments right. You can be more confident in your ability to be ready. And the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved straight to capitol hill, house leader nancy pelosi and the five democrats selected to sit on the House Select Committee on benghazi. Take a listen. We hoped that the House Republican leaders would not go down the path forming a select committee. Weve already been there. Eight reviews have been conducted in house and senate, 25,000 documents released, millions of taxpayer dollars spent. It was not necessary to put the families or our country through this partisan exercise once again. Over the past two weeks we have engaged in good faith discussions with Speaker Boehner on the shape and standards of the select committee. We had hoped for a level of fairness and transparency and balance, especially considering the subject matter. We were not able to reach any agreement. Regrettably, the republican approach does not prevent the unacceptable and repeated abuses committed by chairman issa in any meaningful way. That is all the more reason for democrats to participate in the committee, to be there to fight for fair hearing and process, to try to bring some openness and transparency so whats going on. What is the purpose of this investigation . What is the timetable . What are the milestones . What are they hoping to achieve . I could have argued this either way. Why give any validity to this effort, but i do think it is important for the American People to have the pursuit of these questions done in as fair and open and balanced way as possible. That simply would not be possible leaving it to the republicans. Thats why im appointing my distinguished colleagues here today to serve on the select committee. Im so proud of them and all that they do for the American People in the congress of the United States and for their constituents at home. Congressman Elijah Cummings will be the Ranking Member. He is the Ranking Member on the committee of oversight and government reform. Congressman adam smith, the Ranking Member on Armed Services committee has agreed to serve. Congressman adam schiff, committee on appropriations, subcommittee on state and foreign operations, very important in this discussion, and is a member of the personal into select committee on intelligence. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez from the committee of ways and means and subcommittee of oversight, congresswoman Tammy Duckworth serving on the Armed Services committee and the committee on oversight and government reform, mr. Cummings committee. With their leadership and persistence we will do right by the families of the the victims. By the way, two families have communicated with us saying dont take us down this path again. Why is this being done . We hope that we can shine a light on where our focus should be, preventing tragedy like benghazi from ever happening again. I told the speaker in a phone call i just had with him that im hopeful that Ranking Member cummings and chairman gowdy can come to better terms as to how we proceed. Its with that hope and his great leadership that i present the chairman, our Ranking Member on this committee, mr. Cummings. Thank you very much. Gloria borger and dana bash, let me bring you both in. We heard leader pelosi saying she wants her five democrats to be there, to fight for this fair hearing and process. Thats the point of the column i just read of yours. Theyre calling this whole thing a witch hunt. They dont want to legitimize the process. If theyre not there, to your point, they cant defend it. Right. In the end she said she could have argued it both ways. In the end she decided shed rather be inside the room than not inside the room. This is really important as dana knows which is that you want to have the access to documents, you want to be able to form your own narrative. You dont want any surprises, particularly when Hillary Clinton could be called to testify and she could be the democratic nominee for president. Shes a big girl. She can take care of herself. But better to have some people on the committee who can actually know whats going to occur, and also object on the part of the democrats as things move along, at least try to represent that point of view because what the republicans are doing is trying to motivate their base to get out to vote. Benghazi has been an issue for them. Republicans still have a lot of questions as we were discussing a little while ago. Absolutely. These are veteran members of congress, correct, who will be sitting on this committee . When will they sit . When will the hearings begin . Do we even know . We dont know the answer. Its a great question. A lot of it depends on the chairman of the committee, tray gowdy, when he decides when things will get going. Theyll likely use staff which is a critical part of these investigations, staff that have already been part of the four committees that have already been investigating in the house. To glorias point about Hillary Clinton, i know i keep going back to this, but i cant underscore enough how much democrats on capitol hill think thats what this is all about. You ask what else they can look into, what are they looking at. Certainly a big part is what they allege as a coverup in the white house, but the other is inability to do the right job at the state department and certainly about wounding Hillary Clinton for 2016. That is why the democrats who are going to be in there, the democrats that they chose, are not considered flamethrowing partisans even though theyll have to put the partisan hats on at times. Theyre considered serious, substantive people. Thats part of the Decision Making in choosing these people. No question about that in talking to democratic sources on capitol hill. In one way or another, benghazi is going to come up. You know Hillary Clinton has a book thats coming out. I find it hard to believe that she would not address benghazi in some detail, in some personal detail in that book. So it even