"[The contents of this report] should fundamentally change the way you view Benghazi." --Trey Gowdy, Committee Chairman, June, 2016

On September 11, 2012, an attack occurred against two US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya. As a result of these attacks, the US Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, died (the first US ambassador killed since 1979), as well as three other Americans. Controversy arose about whether the attacks were committed spontaneously or were premeditated, and whether the US government's response was adequate.

Ten investigations followed into whether high-ranking US government officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had acted improperly. The most important investigation was handled by the Republican-controlled US House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi.

It issued nearly 1,000 pages in The Benghazi Report--with Additional and Minority Views in June 2016 and criticized the Obama Administration's handling of the attacks. It concluded that the State Department failed to protect US diplomats in Libya. Clinton, who at the time of the release of this report was the Democratic presidential candidate dismissed the findings of this report as did the Democrats on the House Select Committee in their minority report, included in the report.