House Republicans on Friday stepped up pressure on the White House to release more information about the 2012 assault on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, signaling a renewed focus on the attack and its aftermath amid the disclosure this week that the administration withheld an email advising a senior official how to talk about the context of the attack.

Speaker John A. Boehner said he would ask the House to vote to establish a select committee to investigate. And the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform separately said it was issuing a subpoena to Secretary of State John Kerry to answer questions about the attack, which killed the American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans and has already been the focus of investigations by congressional Republicans.

The subpoena of a cabinet official is both an unusual and an aggressive move that ensures that the question of whether the White House put politics above national security in dealing with the attack remains front and center as the midterm elections approach.

The convening of a special committee most likely means that a contentious back-and-forth between the White House and House Republicans will carry on through the summer and into the November elections, with the prospect of more administration officials being called before Congress to testify.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/03/us/politics/house-gop-increases-pressure-over-benghazi-attack.html