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Clinton Pins Benghazi Responsibility on Ambassador

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Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton brushed aside emails Thursday that showed she privately told family and world leaders that the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi was a terrorist assault, and said Ambassador Christopher Stevens was responsible for his own decisions regarding skimpy security ahead of his death.

Testifying to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, a composed and controlled Mrs. Clinton said she was involved in the big decisions of deploying Stevens to Libya and pressing President Obama to lead the war effort that ousted Moammar Gadhafi. But she deflected responsibility for much of what went wrong, saying the ambassador’s requests for more protection, which were denied, were handled at levels beneath her.

Mrs. Clinton also revealed that she gave orders for her lawyer and aides to go through her emails, but she did not “look over their shoulder” and didn’t know exactly how they decided which emails were work-related business. And she declined to agree to release any emails recovered from her server.

In a hearing that lasted more than eight hours, Mrs. Clinton escaped without the kind of major gaffe that plagued her 2013 appearance before the Senate.

But she seemed unsure of whether she spoke with Stevens in the months between swearing him in as ambassador and the attack, in which he died of smoke inhalation. (Read more from “Clinton Pins Benghazi Responsibility on Ambassador” HERE)

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DNC Job Posting Jokes About Benghazi Deaths; Provokes Wrath of Disgusted Americans

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4-dead-in-benghazi-270x300A Democrat communications hack with the title of “senior email campaigner” posted a job opening for the Democrat National Committee that makes a joke about the deaths of four Americans at the hands of terrorists in Benghazi.

And he’s finding out just how furious Americans really are.

Here’s the original tweet posted by the DNC’s hack Eric Reif, one of those wunderkind’s who staffed the Obama presidential campaigns. He apparently tried to delete it when some adult at the DNC headquarters came into the room, but a sharp-eyed Twitter user captured it first.

DNC comms dudebro @esreif has deleted his job posting tweet. Can’t imagine why. #ReadyForHillarypic.twitter.com/89BzSBPnyg

— Jimmy (@JimmyPrinceton) April 20, 2015

@JimmyPrinceton @redsteeze @esreif That’s hilarious. Work for us. We might watch you die. pic.twitter.com/xNDDR5Xo7Y

— Henry Thoreau (@Thoreau_H_D) April 20, 2015

@JimmyPrinceton @esreif Keeping it classy, as always. Americans left for dead – just a punchline, eh, Eric?

— Jay Dubb (@MidasRex1998) April 21, 2015

@JimmyPrinceton @esreif Unbelievably stupid. A Republican candidate would be hounded about that for weeks

— Jon Munce (@jonmunce) April 20, 2015

@JimmyPrinceton@esreif A GOP staffer would be forced to resign. He’ll probably get promoted.

— Candy T (@CandyTa86367420) April 20, 2015

(Read more from “DNC Job Posting Jokes About Benghazi Deaths; Provokes Wrath of Disgusted Americans” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

House Report Flawed? GOP Lawmakers, Benghazi Survivors Fume

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

A recent report by a GOP-led committee that was seen as going easy on the Obama administration’s Benghazi response is drawing stinging complaints from a number of Republicans on the panel, as well as survivors of the attack.

Some GOP members on the House Intelligence Committee grumble that the final product “might as well have been written by the minority,” while other House Republicans say they are frustrated with the committee’s decision to release a report with so many “holes.”

Several lawmakers point their fingers at the committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Some members who disagreed with the findings said they stopped going to meetings because of concerns with his handling of the report, and didn’t even take part in the final version.

The report, released last month, found no intelligence lapses in connection with the fatal terror attack. Republican heavyweights like Sen. Lindsey Graham have blasted the findings as “garbage.”

But the findings also drew complaints from survivors, who testified behind closed doors, and caused deep divisions on the committee itself ahead of the report’s release. Critical lawmakers wished to remain anonymous due to fear of blowback from Republican leadership.

Read more from this story HERE.

CIA Gathered Intelligence on Weapons to Syria: Benghazi Report

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

A leading Republican wants to expand the House investigation into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack by adding a Senate probe, as a new House Intelligence Committee report Friday concluded that the initial CIA assessment found no demonstrations prior to the assault and a primary purpose of the CIA operation in eastern Libya was to track the movement of weapons to Syria.

The report described the attack as “complex” with the attackers affiliated with Al Qaeda. It also said the initial CIA assessment concluded there were no demonstrations outside the State Department Consulate in Eastern Libya.

Referring to the House Select committee Chairman, and the Democratic ranking member, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said the current House investigation should be expanded.

“(Republican) Trey Gowdy and (Democrat) Elijah Cummings have done a good job,” he said. “I can’t imagine the U.S. Senate not wanting to be a part of a joint select committee. We’ll bootstrap to what you’ve done, but we want to be part of discussion,” Graham told Fox News. “What I would suggest to (incoming Senate majority leader) Mitch McConnell is to call up Speaker Boehner and say ‘Listen, we want to be part of this’.”

Graham, along with his two Republican colleagues, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, have been outspoken advocates of a special investigation, because they say then-acting director of the CIA Mike Morell misled them about his role in crafting the so-called media talking points that blamed an opportunistic protest gone awry for the assault.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sharyl Attkisson Just Released a Creepy Video of Her Computer That Will Likely Send Chills Down Your Spine

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Photo Credit: CBS News via YouTube

Photo Credit: CBS News via YouTube

Former CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson — who claims the government hacked her computer, TV and phone while she reported on the Benghazi terror attack — has released a new video showing what could be evidence of the government taking over her computer.

“That very night, with [White House spokesman Eric] Schultz, [White House Press Secretary Jay] Carney and company freshly steaming over my Benghazi reporting, I’m home doing final research and crafting questions for the next day’s interview with [Thomas] Pickering. Suddenly data in my computer file begins wiping at hyperspeed before my very eyes. Deleted line by line in a split second: it’s gone, gone, gone,” Attkisson writes in her book.

In the book, Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington, Attkisson explains the difficulties she faced while trying to get at the truth of exactly what happened on the night of September 11, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya, where four American diplomats died, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Benghazi Indictment Confirms Computers with Classified Information Stolen

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Photo Credit: ReutersAn indictment Tuesday of a Libyan militant already behind bars for the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans confirms that computers with sensitive and classified information were stolen from the consulate during the assault.

Fox News was first to report in July that at least two computers were stolen from the consulate. While the State Department initially dismissed Fox’s report, the new, 18-count indictment against Ahmed Abu Khattala confirms that sensitive and classified information was lost, including the location of the top secret CIA annex.

Abu Khattala, 43, the first militant to be prosecuted for the Benghazi violence, had initially been charged with conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, resulting in death. U.S. officials had described that initial, one-count indictment as a placeholder to allow for him to be brought into court and for a grand jury to hear more evidence.

The new indictment does not add to the public account of how the account unfolded but it does include multiple counts that make Abu Khattala eligible for the death penalty if convicted, including murder of an internationally protected person and killing a person during an armed attack on a federal facility. It also accuses him, among other charges, of providing material support to terrorists, malicious destruction of property and attempted murder of an officer and employee of the U.S.

The indictment also alleges rocket propelled grenades, AK 47s and semi-automatic assault rifles were used at the consulate, and then mortars at the Annex during the third wave of the assault –a level of firepower that would contradict the administration’s initial explanation that a demonstration had simply turned violent.

Read more from this story HERE.

Leon Panetta Speaks About Benghazi, Reveals Something He Said He Knew From the ‘Very Beginning’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Cliff OwenBy Oliver Darcy.

Former CIA director Leon Panetta said Tuesday that he knew from the “very beginning” that Benghazi was a “terrorist attack on our compound.”

Speaking with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about his new book, Panetta was reacting to a question about why immediately following the assault he didn’t think attribute it to a spontaneous demonstration like General David Petraeus.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Panetta: Obama Told Benghazi Was Terrorist Attack

By Greg Richter.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he immediately told President Barack Obama that the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, was carried out by terrorists.

Panetta is on a whirlwind of media interviews to promote his new book, “Worthy Fights,” which contains several criticisms of the president.

Panetta appeared Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” during which host Bill O’Reilly played a clip from his Feb. 2 interview with Obama. In that interview, Obama would not admit that Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey told him the Benghazi attacks involved terrorists.

Panetta told O’Reilly a different version: “We told the president that there’s an attack that’s going on, that terrorists are involved in the attack, and, as a result, we have to respond to it.”

Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the attack.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi Bombshell: Hillary Clinton's Team Committed Obstruction of Justice?

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Photo Credit: Ron Sachs / NewscomAs the House Select Committee on Benghazi prepares for its first hearing this week, a former State Department diplomat is coming forward with a startling allegation: Hillary Clinton confidants were part of an operation to “separate” damaging documents before they were turned over to the Accountability Review Board investigating security lapses surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

According to former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, the after-hours session took place over a weekend in a basement operations-type center at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is the first time Maxwell has publicly come forward with the story.

At the time, Maxwell was a leader in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which was charged with collecting emails and documents relevant to the Benghazi probe.

“I was not invited to that after-hours endeavor, but I heard about it and decided to check it out on a Sunday afternoon,” Maxwell says.

He didn’t know it then, but Maxwell would ultimately become one of four State Department officials singled out for discipline—he says scapegoated—then later cleared for devastating security lapses leading up to the attacks. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were murdered during the Benghazi attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats Join GOP in Blasting Benghazi Bungling

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Photo Credit: ReutersChairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., slipped in the question of the hour during the middle of a heated back and forth on State Department security practices, on the first day of a select committee’s hearings on the attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi.

He asked, “What POLICY were we pursuing in Libya that was so great we overlooked all the (security) trip wires and risks?”

The State Department spokesman answered, as he had repeatedly throughout the hearing, that he didn’t know because, “I was not there.”

This time, however, Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security Greg Starr added he thought it was because American diplomats did not want to lose the confidence of the people of Libya.

After the hearing, WND asked Gowdy if he expected anyone would ever give him a substantive answer to his question.

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi Security Contractors: About 25 Americans are Still Alive Because We Broke 'Stand Down' Order

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Photo Credit: FNCThe Obama administration, the CIA, and even some congressional committees—they all said there “was no ‘stand down’ order.”

But now five men who helped ward off the terrorists that attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya two years ago say it’s only because they defied such an order that as many as 25 Americans are alive today.

“There’s quite a few—the soft-skins, we call them, or the non-shooters,” Kris “Tanto” Paronto, one of the security contractors that fateful evening, said in a phone interview on early Monday afternoon. “They’re all still working. I can’t give their names out or give their call signs out. The only ones I can are like me and Oz and Tig who have come out. We’re all on board with the project and we are all a team together, but some want to remain anonymous.

“As far as the numbers, you’ve got—and I’m going to be approximate—but there’s about 25 people that came out there and then there’s however many that left from Tripoli from the State Department when we got there,” Paronto continued. “There’s a lot of them. I haven’t stayed in touch with all of them, and haven’t felt the need to. But a lot of them are staffers for the most part. A lot of them are still working.”

Terrorists who stormed the compound that evening killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and Foreign Service Office Sean Smith. As the attack was beginning, Paronto, John “Tig” Tiegen, Mark “Oz” Geist, Jack Silva, Dave “D.B.” Benton, and Tyrone “Rone” Woods—the security team at the CIA Annex—were ready within minutes to head over to a nearby diplomatic compound, where terrorists from Anshar Al-Sharia armed with AK-47s and other powerful weapons had stormed the building. Inside the compound were Smith, Stevens, and five other Americans.

Read more from this story HERE.