50 briefings. 25,000 pages of documents. Documents. All the documents. The Top Democrats say the new benghazi structure say setup. The house says there will be a republican majority. Elections have consequences there are more republicans in the house than democrats. Its not going to be a side show. Fast and furious. I have never sought to raise a single penny on the backs of poor america. Theres actually a robust fundraising spot. It looks what theyre doing is political. I dont blame anyone but the white house. It looks like nothing more than a partisan stunt. Kangaroo court in the making. Benghazi. Benghazi. History repeats itself. First as tragedy, second as farce. And so it is with House Republicans who have taken the tragedy of benghazi and turned it into a farce. Whether or not to participate in the farce, that is the question. Facing democrats in congress. In a letter to Speaker John BoehnerMinority Leader Nancy Pelosi expressed deep skepticism about the House Select Committee on benghazi and outlined four key demands that would need to be met in order for her party to participate. Number one that seats on the committee be equally divided between democrats and republicans. Number two, the democrats be granted subpoenaissuing powers. Number three, that democrats be given a say in the deposition of witnesses. And number four, that democrats be given a say in the protocol surrounding the use of documents. And yet, democraticle participation in the farcical house remains anything but important. Theyre taking the temperature inside the dem caucus as they attempt to proceed. How is the temperature of the third most powerful in the house, jim clyburn, he said its cold. Clyburn explained im not bringing a noose to my hanging. The head of the dnc insists that the committee is nothing more than a political ploy but to hear the man leading the investigation, South Carolina republican congressman trey gowdy, well, hes the fairest in all the land. You you can say whatever you want. His suits dont match, bad hair cut, no one will say im fair. As of yet, no one has accused gowdy of having a bad hair cut. But the whole m. O. Part of the shellacking 2010 wave. His whole modus operandi and post a video of his performance on youtube and then go on fox news. Those videos of trey gowdy, they even have their own action movie soundtracks. Here is the fearless prosecutor shing irs prosecutor lois lerner exactly who is boss. You dont get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to crossexamination. Thats not the way it would. She waved her right to fifth amendment privilege by issuing an opening state. She ought to stand here and answer our questions. Can you hear that soundtrack . Selfpromoting attorney with a supersized ego, or aww schucks lawyer with only the best intentions . Speaker john boehner made it clear this is a serious investigation. This is all about getting to the truth. Theres not going to be a side show. Theres not going to be a circus. This is a serious investigation. No circus. No side show. Just a lot of benghazi, irs, and fast furious thrown in for good measure. Theyre not telling the truth about benghazi. Theyve not told the truth about the irs. Theyve not told the truth about fast furious. If theyre not willing to tell the American People the truth, it must not be very pretty. Lest america, forget about the 14 million the irs has already spent responding to republican inquiries, theyre due to waste a few more of both of those things in just two hours when the house holds an official vote to find lois lerner in contempt of congress. It is expected to pass surprise along party lines. Joining me now is former rnc chair michael steele, i cannot read the teleprompter and White House Correspondent and Political Editor at the huffington post, sam stein. Gentlemen, im so overcome by benghazi fever the words have begun to blur together. Sam, let me start first with you, as a reporter who watches democratic politics, should they participate in this select committee . I dont know whether they should or not. The sense i get talking to people on the hill right now is theyre leaning against it for the reasons that James Clyburn represented or James Clyburn articulated which they think the outcome is already prejudged. And they also believe that if they dont participate in it, they can cast it as an illegitimate partisandriven inquiry and not a legitimate factfinding investigation. And so for those reasons i would be unsurprised, lets say. I wouldnt be shocked if they decided not to participate in this. Michael steele, take off the red hat for a moment. And put on the blue hat. If you were chair of the dnc, what would you advise democrats to do in that situation . Probably, i think, i would be a little bit concerned about it. I mean, because you dont know what you dont know. But dont they know what they dont . I feel like well, this is the point. This is the point. If youre not in the room. Right. And you have no idea of whats being fomented in the room. How thats being churned up and then reproduced and youre seeing it for the first time on the 6 00 oclock news or on your broadcast in the afternoon, thats not a good position for the party to be in. So i would be very concerned about what exactly is transpiring in the hearing if theres no democrats in the hearing. But let me just respond to that because they felt democrats feel like theyve already gone through something very similar with the irs investigations in which Darrell Issas office and republicans on that committee would selectively leak transcripts of some of the interview testimony, without much notification for the democrats on the committee itself. So theyre almost used to this. And i dont think they want to participate in something that something that they already think is prejudged. Now they may turn around and feel that chairman steeles points are valid. And having someone at least five members, on the committee to be at least able to rebut whats happening in realtime. But theyve felt that a lot of this has been investigated. Theres been many committees that have looked into it. Many documents have been produc produced. And theyre fully aware of what materials have been used. And chairman steele, there are questions not just for democrats but also for republicans in all of this. Sure. We know there are some republicans like the speaker who are sort of telling the country that this is a serious investigation. Trey gowdy seems to be saying says that versserious investiga. And there are others who think its a very convenient way to raise money. Just this afternoon, trey gowdy doubled down on comments he made earlier this morning. Saying the country should not profit off of it, there are four dead americans. Do you think there are people they would like to corral who would like to make money off of it . I thought congressman gowdys point of view was absolutely correct. I saw this interview with joe and mika this morning. There should not be this fundraising gorging that happens around these types of things. Irs, yeah, we get it. But Something Like this where you do have lives of americans that have been taken. I still think there are some serious questions that can be asked and answered, you know, as new revelations. We dont know what else may pop up. So im hoping everyone approaches this from a very serious perspective. There are political risks for both parties. The democrats if theyre not in the room run the risk of being blind sided and having to play catchup. And republicans having to continue the mistake that was made at the beginning of this crisis, if you will, of politicizing in such a way thats not credible. And the American People who are interested in it. And therefore, it doesnt have any real benefit to the country in terms of giving the answers that you want. Sam, you wrote about this. Lets show everybody the National Congressional email that says at the top of it, if we can pull that up, youre now a benghazi watchdog. Can we pull up that email . Youre not a benghazi watchdog, lets go after obama and hillary. I mean, if theres anything more nakedly partisan and opportunistic, i dont know what it would be. Yeah, they didnt apparently take congressman gowdys advice. And theyre fundraising off of this. Im assuming its a good fundraising topic. Yesterday, we reported on an individual diagnose it for the nrcc. This is the line that republicans walk here which is exactly what chairman steele said, if they go too far, if they bite too sharply, they look like theyre out for political benefit. I think thats a real risk to to that. When mitt romney reacted to this in realtime, september 2012, he overreached. It ended up biting him. Republican committees, republican lawmakers run the same risks in these first couple weeks. Chairman, jay maier of the new yorker reminds what happened in which 213 Service Members were killed. It was one of several attacks on that compound. And tip oer of the house, led a twomonth investigation. The results of which had bipartisan consensus. Changes were made in way how we secure our diplomatic compound. It stands in such sharp contrast pipe actually feel its one of the most searing indictments of what has happened to our legislative branch. The notion that they work together, there were attacks after this report came out, after these Safety Measures had been called for. And the president at the time, Ronald Reagan, said anyone thats ever had their kitchen done over knows that it never gets done as soon as you wish it would. Jay maier makes the incredible point, imagine what darrell issa and fox would do if president obama said the same thing. Well, yeah, its a different time altogether. That reflection of how far we have come in the poisons of our politicses that you do have speaker of the house who is holding hearings, administration thats cooperative. I mean, remember, despite that comment, Ronald Reagan felt very deeply about what happened there. Yes. And made the commitment to work with the speaker. The question thats out there, okay, hows the administration prepared to move forward on this . Is the administration advising, you know, the democrats to stay away . Or, yeah, lets try to get to the bottom of this. That tells you. Can i just yes. 13 hearings later. I mean, the notion that tip oneill would have convened 13 hearings. And the white house handed over 25,000 pages of documents, if thats not cooperation, i dont know what cooperation looks like. Sam, ill let you get in there. Yeah, i think one of the points that jay maier was pointing out in that piece was that the hearings and the press facto analysis of what happened in beirut were focused primarily on how do you establish better security. Right. How do you get better intelligence. Yeah. And thats a good question. Two good questions to ask after benghazi as well. But the predominant focus has been on whether or not talking points were adjusted for a sunday show. And i think thats the point where maybe the priorities are a bit out of whack. To say it euphemistically. Thank you both for your time. After the break, a new report of violence reportedly kills hundreds in nigeria as the white house offers to find nearly 300 girls kidnapped by the Jihadist Group boko haram. Those when jen psaki joins knee next on now. But i learned to live with my blindness a long time ago. So i dont let my blindness get in the way of doing the things i love. But sometimes it feels like my body doesnt know the difference between day and night. I struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. I found out this is called non24, a circadian rhythm disorder that affects up to 70 percent of people who are totally blind. Talk to your doctor about your symptoms, and learn about the link between non24 and blindness by calling 8448242424. Thats 8448242424 or visit your24info. Com today. Dont let non24 get in the way of your pursuit of happiness. Mattress discounters Memorial Day Sale whats this . A queensize sealy gel memory Foam Mattress for just 497 . Mattress discounters has the Largest Selection of memory Foam Mattresses under one roof comforpedic. Icomfort. Optimum. And wow four years interestfree financing on the entire tempurpedic cloud collection dont miss the Memorial Day Sale. Mattress discounters a monstrous crime forgotten for weeks is now being met with a sharply accelerating response. As International Outrage grows the United States is sending military Law Enforcement and intelligence teams to nigeria to help find and rescue more than 270 teenage girls abducted by the Boko Haram Terrorist Group last month. The insistence comes after the leader of boko haram announced to sell the girls as slaves. After it announced it abducted at least eight girls from a remote village late sunday. The Nigerian Government is now offering a 300,000 reward for information leading to the girls return. In his first remarks on the kidnappings, president obama vowed u. S. Support for the search and beyond. In the short term, our goal, obviously, is to help the International Community and the Nigerian Government as a team to do everything we can to recover these young ladies. But were also going to have deal with the broader problem of organizations like this that can cause such havoc in peoples daytoday lives. That havoc is only growing with new alarms and deadly violence including gruesome reports of some 300 people massacred at a busy market in the eastern part of the country monday afternoon. Witnesses tell the bbc we are still picks corpses from the main market. Many people locked themselves up in the market so they got burned in their shops. The militants locked up whole families in their home and then would enter and spray them with bullets. The gunmen were shouting god is great as they stormed the town. While its unclear who is behind this brutal taektd, the nigerian lead said that he believes its the state department. Joining me is jen psaki. Thank you, alex, for having me on. What is happening in nigeria is terrifying and gruesome and catastrophic. And i have to ask, as a member of the state department, it seems like for a month, these 200 some girls that languished were captive. Nobody was paying attention to them. Was the state Department Following this situation closely . And if so, why did we only hear from the secretary of state this weekend . Well, alex, absolutely. I think any mother, sister, father of which secretary kerry is one. President obama is one, has been following this closely. This is a horrific story. And everybody has been has been focused on whats happening with these girls. Now, the news that was announced yesterday was because we had a finally had a partner in the Nigerian Government that was prepared to accept our assistance. But weve been engaged in discussions with them for the past 24 days that these girls have been held. Jen, the New York Times makes a point that these insurgencies underscore the inability of the Nigerian Government to keep its people safe. Does the state Department Agree with that . Well, i think what were dealing with here is a terrorist organization, boko haram that we designated, the United States did, just last november, because of their rising threats to Northern Africa and other areas. And the Nigerian Government is certainly trying to deal with that. Weve been working closely with them on counters terrorism cooperation, but its challenging. Thats why weve been so focused on trying to increase our assistance, whether it its in this case, but certainly long before this as well. But are you confident that you have a partner . In the last three months, or first three months of the year, 1500 people were killed by boko haram. Thats a staggering number. In the wake, as International Eyes are on this country, the sort of catastrophic wave of violence in the marketplace that took possibly 300 lives, theyve seen almost boko harams confidence has not been shane, it seems, in terms of operating with impunity. Well, theyre a terrorist organization, and they dont act in a rational way. And we know that. Look, what i can till is that when secretary kerry spoke with president good some luck jonathan yesterday, he was open to our assistance. Were talking about putting a team on the ground, in days not weeks. And you heard president obama say just said, were committed to putting forth any resources we can to help in the case. Youre right, time is of the essence, these girls have been gone for 24 days. Thats a long time, but were going to do Everything Possible to bring them home. Let me ask, the secretary weighed in on what causes young men to join these radical insurgencies. He put poverty at the root of the problem. I guess i wonder given where many african and subsaharan economies are, what do we do, and specifically what does the state Department Look toward a possible solution for making sure that more young men are not recruited for these insurgencies . Were not just talking boko haram, theres also al shabaab that pose not just a regional threat but a global threat . Youre right. Secretary kerry believes and many believe that the rising instability and the young people not able to find jobs around the world has led to their drive towards extremism. He was just in african over the course of last week, and one of the big issues we were talk be about