WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says it was never his intention to suggest that the House Benghazi committee was created to undercut Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he regrets suggesting the panel's purpose is political.

In an interview on Fox News, the California Republican sought to quell controversy after boasting earlier this week that the Benghazi committee led to Hillary Rodham Clinton's drop in the polls. Democrats and some Republicans criticized his comments, and McCarthy acknowledged the flap has been a setback in his campaign to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner of Ohio.

"This committee was set up for one sole purpose — to find the truth on behalf of the families for four dead Americans. I did not intend to imply in any way that that work is political. Of course it is not," McCarthy said.

He said he'd spoken with the chairman of the committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. "I told him I regret that this has ever taken place. It was never my intention."

"It's been a setback, yes, because I do not want to make that harm Benghazi committee in any way, because it's not political," McCarthy told Fox host Bret Baier Thursday night.

Republicans have expressed concern that McCarthy's initial comments undermine the work of the committee established to investigate the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, which occurred while Clinton was secretary of state. She is now the Democrats' leading presidential candidate, and she and other Democrats point to McCarthy's comments as proof that the true aim of the committee is to attack her politically.

Gowdy and other Republicans, including outgoing House Speaker John Boehner, have long been scrupulous about putting the committee's work in a fact-finding — not political — context. But McCarthy's comments give Democrats ammunition to attack the panel just weeks before Clinton is scheduled to testify in a long-awaited appearance Oct. 22.

In his initial comments that caused the controversy, McCarthy told Fox News Channel that since the House created the Benghazi committee, Clinton's popularity in public opinion polls has fallen.

"Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen," he said.

McCarthy is still expected to win election as speaker, given the absence of a strong challenger. The House election will be held Oct. 8.