Posts

Rangel: ‘I Don’t Think People…Are Going to Lose Sleep Over Benghazi’ (+video)

/14 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Thursday, speaking of the special House committee that will investigate the terrorist attack in Benghazi, said he did not think Americans were “going to lose sleep” over it.

“I think it’s tragic that the Republican Party would destroy itself in 2016 by not having one issue that the American people believe should be a priority,” Rangel told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto.

“I don’t think people, Americans, Democratic or Republicans, are going to lose sleep over Benghazi. And I really think that they’re concerned about the economy and jobs and immigration. What I’m talking about is, is that if the Democrats are the only ones standing on their feet in 2016, America has lost.”

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Mum on Cooperating With New Benghazi Probe

/2 Comments/in , /by

nancypelosipic2By Alex Pappas.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has ordered the establishment of a new special committee to investigate the 2012 attacks on Americans in Benghazi — but some liberals don’t want any Democrats to take part in the hearings.

“Member of Congress told me she will urge Nancy Pelosi to appoint NO Democrats to Special Benghazi Committee,” liberal talk radio host Bill Press wrote on Twitter on Monday. “She’s right!”

On Monday, Boehner announced that he is tapping South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy to serve as chairman of the select committee hearings.

“With four of our countrymen killed at the hands of terrorists, the American people want answers, accountability, and justice,” Boehner said Monday. “Trey Gowdy is as dogged, focused, and serious-minded as they come.”

Read more from this story HERE.

________________________________________________________________

Discrepancies between Benghazi emails released to Congress, watchdog group

By Catherine Herridge.

Documents reviewed by Fox News show there are differences between Benghazi emails released through the federal courts to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch and emails released to the House oversight committee as part of its investigation into the attacks.

The discrepancies are fueling allegations the administration is holding back documents to Congress.

“The key question is whether Congress now has all the documents,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a member of the oversight committee, said. As for differences between the two sets of documents, Chaffetz alleged: “They are playing games. The classification and redactions are different. Why should Judicial Watch get more than Congress after issuing a subpoena?”

The emails published by Judicial Watch last week, which showed additional White House involvement in shaping the public explanation of what happened, helped trigger the announcement Friday by House Speaker John Boehner of a select committee to investigate.

Two of the emails, from Sept. 14, 2012, appear to be part of the deliberations in advance of then-U.N. ambassador Susan Rice’s Sunday show appearances were she linked an anti-Islam video to the Benghazi attacks. The emails released to Judicial Watch include the names of those who participated in the email chain.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Gowdy: I Have Proof Obama is illegally Withholding Benghazi Docs

/13 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Right Wing News

Photo Credit: Right Wing News

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., appeared on Fox News Friday and told host Greta Van Susteren that he has proof the Obama administration is deliberately withholding documents related to its response to the attack in Benghazi.

In the wake of Friday’s announcement that the House will vote to establish a select committee to investigate that attack, Gowdy was commenting on Secretary of State John Kerry also being subpoenaed to answer for the State Department failing to produce documents related to the incident.

“Is it bureaucracy, or are they hiding it?” Susteren asked.

“Well, I have evidence that not only are they hiding it, there is an intent to hide it,” Gowdy replied. “I can’t disclose that evidence yet, but I have evidence that there was a systematic, intentional decision to withhold certain documents from Congress.”

“And we’re just sick of it,” he added. “So we’re gonna have him come explain why we’re getting documents 20 months late.”

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Pelosi – Benghazi is a Diversion, ‘Can’t We Talk About Something Else?’

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the Benghazi-related emails recently released by the White House as nothing new, refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing by the administration.

“I haven’t seen it, but I will say this again — diversion, subterfuge — Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Why aren’t we talking about something else?” Pelosi said at Thursday’s press conference responding to a question from Breitbart News. “What I know of what I’ve read in the press about the emails was what was put out there before. I don’t think there was anything new there.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Email Shows White House Planned Benghazi Video Deception

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

By Neil Munro.

White House officials consciously planned to spin the successful 2012 jihadi attack on the Benghazi diplomatic compound as a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam video, according to a new email exposed by the public-interest law firm Judicial Watch.

The Sept. 14 email by Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s chief foreign policy spokesman, described the public relations goals for a planned briefing of a top official — Susan Rice — who was scheduled to appear Sept. 16 on five Sunday talk-shows.

She was invited on the shows to explain the September 11 attack, which killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The subject of the email was “PREP CALL with Susan.”

The goal of the appearances, said Rhodes, is “to convey that the United States is doing everything that we can to protect our people and facilities abroad; [and] to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, not a broader failure of policy.”

In her Sunday appearances, Rice implemented the White House’s spin. ”Our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous — not a premeditated — response to what had transpired in Cairo,” she claimed on ABC.

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Krauthammer: New Benghazi Email A ‘Classic Cover-Up Of A Cover-Up’

By Brendan Bordelon.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer declared the new email showing White House involvement in the Benghazi talking points “a classic cover-up of a cover-up,” calling it “a serious offense.”

Krauthammer appeared on a Fox News panel along with The Washington Post’s Charles Lane and Fox News host and former White House press secretary Dana Perino.

The panel discussed new Benghazi emails released by government watchdog Judicial Watch, which reveal an intense interest and involvement by top White House staff in then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s September 2012 claim that the Benghazi attacks were caused by a Youtube video.

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Clinton Calls Benghazi Her ‘Biggest Regret’

/19 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Stephan Savoia

Photo Credit: Stephan Savoia

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a question-answer session at Simmons College this week that her biggest on-the-job regret was Benghazi, and that she still suffers pangs of pains at the memory.

“It would certainly be the attack on our facility in Benghazi, and the loss of two State Department personnel and two CIA contractors from the terrorist attack and the terrible consequences of that,” Mrs. Clinton said when asked about her biggest regret, United Press International reported.

Mrs. Clinton also said the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. compound in Libya that left four Americans dead — including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens — is a constant source of pain for her, UPI said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: US Allowed Arming of al-Qaida Militants in Benghazi

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

The U.S. government was complicit in arming al-Qaida militants in Libya, according to the Citizens Commission on Benghazi, The Daily Mail reported.

The group includes former top military officers and CIA officials who say the United States is partly to blame for the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi.

“Remember, these weapons that came into Benghazi were permitted to enter by our armed forces, who were blockading the approaches from air and sea,” Clare Lopez, a member of the commission and a former CIA officer, told the newspaper.

“The intelligence community was part of that, the Department of State was part of that, and certainly that means that the top leadership of the United States, our national security leadership, and potentially Congress – if they were briefed on this – also knew about this.”

The United States failed to stop a $500 million United Arab Emirates arms shipment from reaching al-Qaida militants in Libya, according to Lopez. The weapons, according to The Daily Mail, were bound for Moammar Gadhafi but allowed by the United States to go to his Islamist opposition.

Read more from this story HERE.

Suddenly ‘Outraged’ Boehner Unloads on WH Over IRS, Benghazi, Fast & Furious: “They Owe the American People the Truth” (+video)

/3 Comments/in , /by

john_boehner_034At his weekly press briefing today, Speaker Boehner unloaded on the White House for refusing to tell the American people the truth about the IRS, Benghazi, and Fast and Furious:

“The frustration is, is that the American people have not been told the truth about what happened at the IRS.

“The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ex-CIA Boss Morell Gives Unorthodox Reasons for Omitting Key Benghazi Details

/5 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

In his opening statement during highly anticipated testimony Wednesday on Benghazi, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell claimed to be an intelligence professional who was willing to lay out the facts — no matter how damaging.

“I take very seriously the allegations about how the CIA in general and about how I in particular handled the analysis and the talking points,” Morell told the House Intelligence Committee, in his first public testimony on the Benghazi attacks. “The ethical code under which intelligence officers carry out their responsibilities calls for total objectivity.”

But Morell’s own testimony would appear to undercut that statement.

Early on, Morell made a startling claim about the so-called “talking points,” the faulty narrative that initially blamed a protest for the attack.

On the talking points, Morell said he dropped information about CIA security warnings — which were factual and accurate — because he thought it would be unprofessional to embarrass then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Questions About ex-CIA Director’s Benghazi Claims Ahead of Testimony

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

New allegations are raising additional questions about former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell’s involvement in crafting the administration’s flawed narrative on the Benghazi attack, ahead of his scheduled testimony next week on Capitol Hill.

Morell is set to testify publicly for the first time on Wednesday about his role in crafting the controversial Benghazi “talking points,” which initially blamed a protest for the deadly attack.

The former acting director, and deputy director, was called to testify to explain potentially conflicting testimony he gave Congress about the talking points and the administration’s role. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Rogers told reporters this week — before news of his retirement was made public — that the rare, open session should “allow Mr. Morell to answer the questions that we know many people have about what he knew and when he knew it.”

But another detail is raising questions. According to a source with first-hand knowledge of events, during a secure video conference call two days after the Sept. 11, 2012 attack, Morell told the team in Libya that there was intelligence a demonstration preceded the assault. With that statement, Morell apparently dismissed the reporting of U.S. personnel on the ground, including the CIA’s top officer, known as the chief of station.

“We’ve done a forensic on that event. We never found a reference to demonstrations from individuals who were on the ground,” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., told Fox News in a recent interview. Burr sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee which conducted its own investigation on Benghazi. The bipartisan findings released in January were highly critical of the State Department and the administration’s resistance to fully explain its role in the flawed talking points.

Read more from this story HERE.