WASHINGTON--Congressional Republicans on Tuesday accused Hillary Clinton's State Department of failing to protect four Americans killed in a 2012 attack in Libya, in a final report that contained no major new revelations but rekindled debate on the U.S. presidential campaign trail.
In an 800-page report that Democrats derided as a political vendetta, Republicans said Clinton, who served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 and is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and her staff showed a "shameful" lack of response to congressional investigators looking into the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
The report, the culmination of a two-year investigation by a special congressional committee led by Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, is likely to be the last official attempt to investigate the attack. Seven other congressional panels have also investigated the attack on the U.S. diplomatic and CIA posts in Benghazi.
The latest investigation has been used by Republicans to attack Clinton's national-security credentials. Opinion polls have shown Americans deeply split along partisan lines over the probe.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has repeatedly charged that Clinton is personally responsible for the deaths of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans killed by militia groups in the Sept. 11, 2012 incident.
Clinton's campaign dismissed the committee's report, saying it had not found anything that had not been discovered by previous congressional probes. White House press secretary Josh Earnest labeled the effort a "political exercise."
Clinton, speaking in Denver, said it was crucial to "learn the right lessons" from the Benghazi tragedy. "No one has thought more about or lost more sleep over the lives that we lost - the four Americans - which was devastating," said Clinton.
Trump waited until hours after the report's release to comment. "Benghazi is just another Hillary Clinton failure," he said on Twitter. "It just never seems to work the way it's supposed to with Clinton."
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Clinton's actions as secretary of state were disqualifying. "Hillary Clinton was in charge, knew the risks, and did nothing" to protect personnel on the ground in Libya, he said.
Professor Julian Zelizer, a political analyst at Princeton University, called the report "old news" but said that would not stop Trump from trying to exploit the issue going forward. "A story like this, even though it seems familiar, can still serve to mobilize Republicans, and certainly Donald Trump will do that. He'll certainly try," Zelizer said.
Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist, said he doubted the report would influence undecided voters. "Those who are willing to believe that there was wrongdoing on Secretary Clinton's part were unlikely willing to vote for her in the first place," he said.