Emails Reveal: Accuracy was Scrubbed out of Benghazi ‘Talking Points’
July 17, 2013
As the hour grew late on the night of Sept. 14, the White House wanted to make one thing clear to the State Department and the CIA as the three collaborated on what would come to be known as the Benghazi "talking points," designed to be used by Congress and administration officials to explain what had happened three days earlier at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
The attack, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, was not planned, White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor wrote in an 8:54 p.m. email.
"There is massive disinformation out there," Mr. Vietor wrote. "They all think it was premeditated based on inaccurate assumptions or briefings. So I think this is a response to not only a tasking from the house intel committee but also [National Security Council] guidance that we need to brief members/press and correct the record."
The initial talking points ran six paragraphs long and said the crowd was a mix of individuals, but "that being said, we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qaida participated in the attack." The talking points went on to recount attacks against other countries' diplomatic missions in Benghazi and raised the prospect that the U.S. facilities were "previously surveilled" in anticipation of the attack.
By the time the talking points were approved a day later, they had been reduced to three paragraphs and any hint of terrorists or planning had been scrubbed. The final version said the attack was the culmination of "demonstrations" that were "spontaneously inspired" by protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo earlier Sept. 11, though it did acknowledge "indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations."
"There is massive disinformation out there. They all think it was premeditated ... more >
Benghazi and the administration's talking points have not gone away as an issue for Republicans.
On Tuesday, Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, delivered a floor speech on the need for a special committee to answer several questions. He said he plans a series of statements and letters to the State Department to garner more information before the August recess.
"Perhaps the most telling sign of the incomplete state of the Benghazi investigation is the fact that not one of the survivors of the Benghazi attacks - from the consulate or the [CIA] annex - have publicly testified before Congress," Mr. Wolf said. "Despite nearly a full year of multiple committee investigations, not one witness has been brought before a committee to publicly testify under oath about what happened that night."
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