( CNN ) -- Hillary Clinton supporters launched a counteroffensive this week against claims that documents related to the Benghazi attack investigation were sanitized and ahead of another congressional hearing . A Clinton spokesman responded quickly to the story released Monday , calling it `` patently false , '' and a group helping with the former secretary of state 's communications and rapid response mobilized an entire communications strategy , website and talking points around the issue . The strategy has a directness that has not always been seen from Clinton aides and affiliated groups , which have generally waited for a story to fully emerge before taking it on . A GOP-led House Select Committee on the Benghazi attack holds its first public meeting Wednesday , with seven Republicans and five Democrats looking into the September 11 , 2012 , attack on the U.S. compound in Libya that killed four Americans , including Ambassador Chris Stevens . The issue has been white hot politically since then . It loomed as an issue that Republicans used against President Barack Obama in the closing months of the 2012 election , and with the prospect of Clinton running for president in 2016 , the issue has continued to burn . Rand Paul : If Hillary Clinton worked for Bill Clinton , she 'd be fired . Sharyl Attkisson , who resigned from her job as a CBS News correspondent in 2014 for what she said was liberal bias , published a report Monday alleging that a State Department official close to Clinton had withheld and sanitized documents during the department investigation . The story , which many conservative outlets branded as a `` bombshell , '' was hung on Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell , one of the men reprimanded over the attack . The State Department flatly denied the story . The Accountability Review Board `` had full and direct access to State Department employees and documents . Any accounts to the contrary like that one you mentioned are completely without merit , completely ill-informed , '' said Marie Harf , the department 's deputy spokeswoman . `` These reports show a complete lack of understanding of how the ARB functioned . It collected its own documents directly from anybody in the department . There was a department-wide call for information to be given directly to the ARB . '' Nick Merrill , Clinton 's spokesman , followed up Tuesday with a statement to CNN . `` This is patently false , as the State Department said yesterday about the process that allowed unfettered access to the Accountability Review Board . '' Correct the Record , the outside group handling communications for Clinton and urging her to run for president in 2016 , launched a rapid response the same day `` to rebut , fact check , and respond to the upcoming Benghazi Select Committee hearings . '' The effort includes a website -- BenghaziCommittee.com -- that highlights statements from the group , points out questions already addressed by past Benghazi panels and fact-checks some critics ' claims . The group says it hopes to model its response after the way campaigns respond during debates . `` The loss of life in Benghazi was a tragedy but the questions of what happened that night have already been asked and answered , '' the group said in an email . `` Republicans have no credibility on this issue and are wasting taxpayer dollars on these sham hearings to ask questions that have already been answered , all for political gain : both to drive up their base turnout in 2014 and to go after Secretary Clinton for 2016 . '' Benghazi probe presses ahead despite new report . Clinton has taken responsibility in the attacks and has told a number of groups that it was her biggest regret at the State Department . In her memoir , `` Hard Choices , '' she knocks those `` who exploit '' Benghazi for political gain and says , `` Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me . '' The passage is considered a flat no to any suggestion that Clinton would testify before the House 's latest Benghazi committee . Despite that , committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy , R-South Carolina , is undeterred from proceeding with the investigation . A statement Tuesday from the committee said , `` As Chairman Gowdy has said , he is willing to risk answering the same question twice rather than risk it not be answered at all . '' CNN 's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report .
Clinton supporters respond quickly to reporters saying the documents were sanitized . House committee is holding another hearing into the 2012 attack , which killed 4 people . Clinton supporters say claims are effort to boost GOP voter turnout , make it an issue in Congress .