Hillary Clinton Wikileaks Reveal She Ordered Benghazi Video Down From YouTube — Or Do They?
Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi controversy once again sparked public attention when Wikileaks released a trove of 30,322 emails and attachments earlier this week.
While several issues were highlighted by Wikileaks, one particular communication between YouTube/Google and Hillary’s team was pointed out as evidence that Clinton collaborated with company CEOs for the removal of “Innocence of Muslims” — the anti-Islam video that some believed triggered the Benghazi incident at the time.
Hillary worked with Google CEOs to keep #Bengazhi video from public https://t.co/pETl91muwp https://t.co/QL6DvoYuC2 pic.twitter.com/4IwJkhXqDr
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 18, 2016
One of the Wikileaks communications is from Nora Toiv, a State Department worker, who sent an e-mail on Sept. 26, 2012, with the title “RE: Google and Youtube.” It appears to be in response to an email from Denis McDonough, at that time the Deputy National Security Advisor, inquiring about a way to reach the CEOs of Google and YouTube. In the message, Toiv appears to be confirming to Hillary that the Benghazi-linked video will not be returning to the company’s website for a few days.
“Sue just called back and the block will stay through Monday. They will not/not be unblocking it before then.”
Since releasing the Clinton Wikileaks, the whistleblower claims that they have been unfairly limited from posting about it on Facebook. On Friday, they accused the social media website of censoring their Hillary release.
Dear @Facebook: stop censoring our Hillary Clinton email release. No, really. Stop it. There is no technical excuse. pic.twitter.com/AMbIUiPkid
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 18, 2016
Not everyone, however, is eager to say that this is the smoking gun of the Clinton team trying to coerce YouTube into taking down the Benghazi video in question. TechDirt, a site which has been extremely supportive of Wikileaks in the past, published an editorial arguing that the e-mails not only did not prove anything about Hillary, but they also supposedly revealed information that was already public.
Long before the Clinton Wikileaks, the White House had stated publicly that it was working with Google to get the video down. That was on Sept. 14, around the same time that YouTube revealed it would be limiting access to the Benghazi-associated video in Libya, Egypt, India, and Indonesia. That was nearly two weeks before these Hillary e-mails, and might perhaps even show that the tech giant made its own decision on the topic, argued Mike Masnik.
“[The Clinton e-mail] doesn’t seem to come even remotely close to revealing anything along the lines of what Wikileaks is implying… At most, the email just reveals that people in the government were wondering if Google was planning to remove the geoblock in places like Libya and Egypt in order to be ready in case anything happened because of it… I’m all for revealing officials meddling in internet platforms and trying to get content blocked. That’s bad news and we should discuss it and highlight it. But raising false alarms over things that aren’t really there just makes you look like a tinfoil hat wearer. It’s not worth it.”
Apart from the Benghazi video, the Hillary Clinton Wikileaks also revealed an e-mail sent by Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation, about his trip to Syria with Google Ideas’ Jared Cohen. In that message, he mentions a successful local social media campaign to remove an abusive schoolteacher, and how that digital revolution can be used to “create disruptions in society that we could potential harness for our purposes.”
[Image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
