Benghazi chairman: Staffer fired for classified info breach

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the House panel investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, says he fired a staffer for mishandling classified information, among other causes.

Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina released a statement on Sunday after the former staffer, Air Force Reserve Maj. Bradley F. Podliska, told CNN and The New York Times he was unlawfully fired in part because he sought to probe the deadly attacks on the U.S. compound — not Hillary Rodham Clinton and the State Department. Podliska describes himself as a Republican and says Gowdy's committee was engaged in a partisan investigation of the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Gowdy says Podliska was improperly focused on Clinton, and that his panel is seeking a "definitive accounting" of the attacks.