Congress to investigate CIA talking points on Benghazi
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on the November 18th edition of "Face the Nation."
/ undefinedAmid ongoing criticism from Republicans over comments U.N. ambassador Susan Rice made about recent violence in Benghazi, Libya, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called for an investigation into a set of talking points the CIA gave out to Rice and others following the attacks, which she said would help clear up discrepancies between what intelligence leaders knew about the attack and what U.S. officials were being instructed to divulge publicly.
Feinstein, speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," defended Rice against the accusations that she had deliberately misled the American people - as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has previously suggested -- and decried what she called the "politicization of a public statement that was put out by the entire intelligence committee."
"She was within the context of that statement," said Feinstein, of the talking points to which Rice was referring. "And for this, she has been pilloried for two months. I don't understand it. It has to stop."
Shortly following the September 11 attacks in Benghazi, in which four Americans were killed, Rice appeared on CBS News' "Face the Nation" and other political talk shows suggesting there was no evidence that the violence reflected an act of terrorism. Instead, she said, it appeared to be prompted by an inflammatory anti-Muslim video that had led to protests in Egypt.
Since then, Rice's characterization has been proven inaccurate, and Republicans like Graham and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have vowed to block her nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, a position for which she is thought to be a top contender.
McCain: Rice still has explaining to do
Democrats and Republicans alike, however, have noted that there were discrepancies between the talking points being distributed by the CIA to Obama administration officials and the way intelligence officials were speaking about the matter, and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., argues that Rice is being unfairly targeted.
"What she reported on your show and others was what she was told by the intelligence agencies. As more information came in, that rendition of facts was abridged and changed. But it wasn't her fault," he said. "And to say that she has to be held accountable because an intelligence agency didn't tell the whole story initially for reasons of national security is totally unfair."
In a September 14 briefing to the House intelligence committee, for instance, former CIA Director David Petraeus "very clearly said that it was a terrorist attack and outlined who he thought might be involved in it," according to Feinstein. But at some point between Petraeus' briefing and Rice's appearance on the Sunday morning talk shows, that narrative changed.
"The intelligence community had it right, and they had it right early," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., appearing alongside Feinstein on Sunday's "Meet the Press." "What happened was it worked its way up through the system of the so-called talking points, which everyone refers to, and then it went up to what's called a deputy's committee... It went to the so-called deputy's committee, that's populated by appointees from the administration. That's where the narrative changed. And so how that thing got back to [Ambassador] Rice, I think, is probably another question."
He added: "I know the narrative was wrong and the intelligence was right. Now, getting between there and there, I think you have to be careful about making those accusations. I think you should have to prove it-- as an old FBI agent, you should prove it first."
Feinstein vowed to find out where the discrepancies came from, and why the narrative seemed to have changed.
"That is something that we're going to find out," she said.
But she disputed the allegation that the White House tweaked the language of the talking points to make it seem more palatable to the public.
"With the allegation that the White House changed those talking points, that is false," she said. "There is only one thing that was changed [by the administration], and I've checked into this. I believe it to be absolute fact. And that was the word consulate was changed to mission. That's the only change that anyone in the White House made, and I have checked this out."
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., argued this morning in a Fox News appearance that even more "troubling" than Rice's statements regarding Benghazi were those of the president: "If you recall, the president went not only on Letterman, Univision, the day after the CBS interview and then 14 days later before the United Nations, he did not call it a terrorist attack, nor did he reference it as connected to al Qaeda or an al Qaeda-affiliated group. In fact, the only reference he made to al Qaeda in that UN speech to the world was that al Qaeda had been weakened and Osama bin Laden was dead."
"I think this raises additional questions," she said. "It goes beyond Ambassador Rice. First of all, why were the talking points changed? It doesn't make any sense to me that we were trying to dupe al Qaeda. That doesn't pass the laugh test. But also, why was the President out 14 days later and still fail to go call it a terrorist attack to the world?"
In a press conference last week, Mr. Obama challenged Republicans to take on him - not Rice - with questions over the Benghazi timeline.
"Let me say specifically about Susan Rice: She has done exemplary work. She has represented the U.S. and our interests in the U.N. with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace," he said. "If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I'm happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador? Who had nothing to do with Benghazi? And was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received? To besmirch her reputation is outrageous."
Graham and McCain, at least, appear to be taking his cue: Also on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Graham shifted the blame to Mr. Obama, calling Rice a "bit player" responsible largely for "passing on a narrative that was misleading to the American people."
"I blame the president more than anybody else," he said. Asked if Susan Rice could be confirmed Secretary of State, Graham backed off on his previous promise to block that nomination, instead presenting himself as "deferential to the president's picks."
McCain, on CBS' "Face the Nation," wondered that Rice has not "repudiated" her previous remarks and said "she has a lot of explaining to do."
But he did not close the door on the idea of confirming Rice.
"I think we give all nominees the benefit of a hearing process, et cetera," he said. "Maybe she could start out by publicly coming back on this show and saying, I was wrong, I gave the wrong information on your show some several weeks ago. That might be a beginning."
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The 2nd scandal the GOP tried to create was a nonexistent cover-up with FAST AND FURIOUS, started under the Bush Administration. 70,000 documents were turned over to Darrel Issa . 1000 e-mails were kept because they were connected to "PENDING CASES". There was no cover-up as the investigation came to show.
NOW the sick, dysfunctional, psychotic, pathological liars, are trying to create yet another SCANDAL out of Benghazi, where none exists. Petraeus has testified there were two sets of "TALKING POINTS", one CLASSIFIED, one NOT CLASSIFIED. Why would RICE go out & expose "classified Information", when those weren't the talking points the INTEL Community gave her ? They didn't want al-Qaeda to know they were onto them. General Keene spoke to NPR, covering the timeline, explaining there was no deception or coverup. An investigative reporter talking to, TALK of the Nation 11-13-12 went through a play-by-play. There was a crowd of 200 people at Benghazi, just like crowds in Egypt, except in Egypt they weren't armed. There's many armed militias running around Libya because of the ground war. Egypt had a peaceful transition & a military that looked after things for over a year. Libya does NOT have that. Aren't the GOP, the cut and gut mentality, that think that's the solution to everything? If there's no funds available then, there isn't tons of beefed up security.
200 MIL Americans get that the Right Wing are engaged in a Campaign of DECEIT that is now entering its 4th decade. MOTTO: "FIX THE DATA TO PUSH THE HIDDEN AGENDAS--LIE, DECEIVE, FABRICATE". GOP POLICIES = "DEATH SPIRALS". Keystone XL PIPELINE="DEATH SPIRAL". Three decades of lies about deregulation allowed derivatives stuffed with junk to damage the economy for the 3rd time in Sept 2008. $11 TRIL dollars in assets trashed, millions put out of work, millions of foreclosures from those job losses, & 16 million children homeless living on the streets with their families. Cut and Gut Budget = "DEATH SPIRAL". Forced on Roosevelt in 1937 caused a "double-dip" GREAT DEPRESSION, drove unemployment above 15%; exactly what we see going on in Iceland (15%), Portugal & Spain, (21-25%), Greece (25%-50%). Most dangerous "DEATH SPIRAL" = Global Warming. Planet on a trajectory to become uninhabitable; goes over an irreversible cliff 2015 from Keystone XL Pipeline spewing 70% more pollution. BIL in damages in 2012 = TRIL 2015-2020 from sea level rise, severe weather events, & food crop failures. They've murdered TENS of MILLIONS. We get that they're a bunch of sick, dysfunctional, psychotic, pathological liars & now murders; they don't have to keep proving it to us by trying to concoct "SCANDALS WHERE NONE EXIST". They should worry about their own Campaign of DECEIT. GOP POLICIES= "DEATH SPIRALS". As absolute butchers of verifiable Truths, they're HUGE VIOLATORS of the Universal LAWS running the show, therefore HUGE VIOLATORS of God's World. People as sick, dysfunctional, psychotic, incessant bald-faced liars, that 95% of the GOP are, have no business being in positions of power at any level of government. They destroy everything they touch. The American People need to "CLEAN OUT" the US HOUSE of 234 GOP DECEIT & SENATE of another 40, 2014, so that we have a government that can actually govern, instead of the incessant lies & sabotage. We need to grow GDP by 158%, with MILLIONS of Green and Infrastructure Jobs, leave THE DEBT in the dust, & get a Sustainable Future. The GOP have done nothing but sabotage that option, because they're owned by BIG OIL. (REINVENTING FIRE by rmi.org)
Republicans vow to investigate the words "Talking" and "Points" in the New American Dictionary.....sensing it could be some type of cover up.
If she had divulged classified information, she would have been committing treason. If McCain had made the same rounds on the news shows as Rice did, would he have committed treason?
It is well known by now Benghazi was a CIA operation and McCain should know this. McCain should also know Susan Rice's early description of the Benghazi attack was from information supplied to her by the CIA "talking points." McCain missed a classified briefing on the Benghazi attack while he was ranting about the lack of information about the Benghazi attack, HOW ABSURD IS THAT?
McCain seems consumed by some driving need to politicize national security matters. Perhaps it has something to do with his defeat in 2008. If he can't preform any better than this he needs to retire before everyone loses what respect they have left for the fact he was a POW.
You have missed several key elements of what the information is on Benghazi.
Perhaps you need to do some reading and then comment.
Your whole comment is nothing more than an ad hominem attack on McCain. If you don't know yet that this Benghazi incident is very serious considering the fact that the administration is now saying that they weren't giving the facts because they didn't want to tip off al Queda....Hahaha....
They lied about al Queda being "on the run" and couldn't allow the info on Benghazi to come out before the election. Feinstein's main source of defense of the president is Eric Holder as she stated on Meet the Press.
The "speed bumb" is now a pit at the base of a mountain of fabels .