Congressman Ryan Costello: Benghazi Comments Hurt Kevin McCarthy

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Sixth District Pennsylvania Congressman Ryan Costello discussed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's decision to drop from the race to be the next Speaker of the House, and pinned some of the blame for his downfall on comments he recently made about the investigation into the terrorist attacks on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 being used to damage then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's chances at winning the Presidency.

Costello told Dom Giordano, during an interview on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, that the comments about the Committee investigating Benghazi damaged McCarthy but he doesn't think it is fair to judge the California Congressman solely on that mistake.

"You're certainly not going to hear me defending how he handled the Benghazi question because he stepped in it. There's two ways around that. That obviously raised concerns. The one thing I would just simply say is it's one thing, obviously, to read what you may on the internet or hear folks characterize who someone is, but there are a lot of conservatives out there who felt that, of those who put their names forward, McCarthy was best positioned because, I will say this about him, he listens to everybody. He outreaches to the most conservative and the most moderate and those in the middle of the party."

He said so much is up in the air that there is no point in trying to speculate about what will come next, or who will emerge as the next Speaker.

"There's a lot of unanswered questions right now. I'm just, actually, seeing right now that Paul Ryan may consider pondering House Speakership over the weekend. You have a lot of other candidates that are suggesting that they may run. A lot of things are in flux. I did support [McCarthy]. I know [some people] were, if not, bothered by that, at least questioned why."

Costello was also asked about the battle over funding for Planned Parenthood following the passage of a short term spending bill and answered that the those two things should not be viewed together.

"We did just vote to establish a select investigate panel because we just recently received all of the tapes. As you may well know, all the videotapes have not yet been released...We have now passed a [continuing resolution] through December 11. The funding for that organization was established earlier this year or even last year. Respectfully, the passage of a CR through December 11 does not fund the organization."

In:
• Paul Ryan
• Hillary Clinton