WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Democrat on the special House panel that will look into the attack in Benghazi, Libya, says he’ll be there to “defend the truth.”

Elijah Cummings of Maryland is among five Democrats who were named to the panel today. All of them have been deeply involved in early congressional investigations of the attack, which killed four Americans. House Speaker John Boehner (BAY’-nur) had earlier chosen South Carolina’s Trey Gowdy, a seasoned prosecutor, to chair the panel.

Some Democrats believed the party shouldn’t be involved in the new investigation, which they say is aimed only at embarrassing the White House in advance of the midterm elections. But Adam Smith of Washington state, another of the Democrats who will serve on the panel, says Democrats “can’t simply let Republicans run the show.”

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said there’s reason to suspect the Republican-led investigation “might not be divorced from politics.”

But Gowdy, the panel chairman, says he wants an investigation “worthy of the American people” and of the four Americans — including the U.S. ambassador — who died in the attack.

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210-a-07-(House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at news conference)-“exercise once again”-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she still does not think there should even be a select committee investigating Benghazi, since several other investigations have already taken place. (21 May 2014)

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209-w-36-(Sagar Meghani (SAH’-gur meh-GAH’-nee), AP national security correspondent, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md.)–House Democrats say they will take part in a special Republican-led select committee looking into the 2012 Benghazi attack. AP National Security Correspondent Sagar Meghani reports from the Pentagon. (21 May 2014)

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APPHOTO WX108: FILE – This May 9, 2014 file photo shows House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Democrats will participate in the special, Republican-led select committee investigating the deadly 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, despite serious concerns within the party that the inquiry is an election-year ploy to energize core GOP voters. In a brief statement, Pelosi said she will appoint the full complement of five Democrats on the 12-member panel, tapping lawmakers who have been deeply involved in previous congressional investigations of the Sept. 11, 2012 assault on the U.S. diplomatic outpost. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) (9 May 2014)

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