Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not telling the truth when she privately and angrily told Capitol Hill lawmakers last year that the Benghazi attack was a spontaneous demonstration, according to one congressman.
In a closed-door hearing, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to have vehemently denied that the attack on the American compound in Benghazi was an act of terrorism even though the Obama administration apparently knew it was right from the beginning. The administration originally blamed the attack on an obscure YouTube video but later abandoned that contention.
In a recent appearance on FNC, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who is a major in the Air National Guard, said Clinton didn’t respond kindly when one of his colleagues raised the possibility of Benghazi being terrorism. Kinzinger attributed this to election-year politics.
On September 11, 2012, four Americans were killed at the US embassy compound in Benghazi — Ambassador Christopher Stevens, embassy official Sean Smith, and security officers Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods (both former Navy SEALS) — when the Obama administration allegedly failed to send rescue teams despite pleas for help. The investigation by the House Oversight Committee is ongoing but the administration has been accused of stonewalling the probe.
Said Kinzinger: “Basically in a very loud angry voice [Clinton] says, ‘it’s irresponsible to even suggest this is a terror attack; this is a YouTube video, we know that there are protests all over, and we need to be very careful about how we’re saying this.’ ”
He continued: “I actually sat there in that meeting and said, well the secretary believes this is a YouTube video because of how passionately she’s arguing that. Now we found out … that they knew the whole time that it was a terrorist attack, including when it was happening.”
Added Kinzinger: “I don’t care about the yelling so much, she yelled, but I care more about the fact that this was a terrorist attack and a Member of Congress who has right to know to know this and ask these questions was chided for even saying that we eventually found out was the truth.”
Kinzinger declined to identify the lawmaker who prompted Clinton’s ire, but he said there were plenty of witnesses to her anger.
In a subsequent January 23, 2013, public hearing with the then-secretary on Capitol Hill, Kinzinger alluded to Clinton being upset at the aforementioned meeting, and she didn’t deny that it had happened.
Last week, current Secretary of State John Kerry reinstated four mid-level State Department officials who had been suspended with pay for their involvement in Benghazi. No high-level official has been as yet held accountable for the murder of the four Americans.
According to the Powerline blog , “… by any normal standard Benghazi would be considered a career-ending debacle [for Clinton].”