'My Jaw Hit The Floor': Emails Reveal How Obama Officials ReactedFollowing Susan Rice's Post-Benghazi TV Appearances
Following the Benghazi siege, Rice was briefed not by the CIA or State Department, but rather by Obama's campaign manager.
6.29.2016
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The mainstream media claim that the latest Benghazi Committee report offers "nothing new to see" and absolves then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from any wrongdoing.
It makes sense that networks would rush to dismiss the new report, given their role in perpetuating then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's false narrative about how a YouTube video served as catalyst for the Benghazi siege.
The committee's report, however, uncovered several internal emails revealing that even Obama administration officials in the State Department were "universal in their condemnation" and in "shock and disbelief" over Rice's statements during her five separate television appearances. Gregory Hicks, then-deputy chief of mission in Tripoli, Libya, told the committee:
"My jaw hit the floor as I watched this [Rice's television appearances].""I have been a professional diplomat for 22 years. I have never been as embarrassed in my life, in my career, as on that day. There have been other times when I've been embarrassed, but that's the most embarrassing moment of my career."
BusinessInsider parses additional excerpts from internal emails cited in the committee's report:
Senior Libya desk officer for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs wrote in an email to colleagues: "I think Rice was off the reservation on this one," according to the report. The deputy director for the bureau's Office of Press and Public Diplomacy responded: "Off the reservation on five networks!"The bureau's senior adviser for strategic communications assigned blame to the White House."Luckily there's enough in her language to fudge exactly what she said/meant," he wrote, referring to Rice. "WH [White House] very worried about the politics. This was all their doing."The deputy director for the State Department's Office of Maghreb Affairs was also surprised that Rice drew a connection to the video."The description of what was said — and, again, I didn't watch the program myself — it just sounded more definitive of what potentially had happened," she testified.She continued: "I was surprised in the way that they were described in the press clips, that there was an indication that there was some connection to the anti-Muslim video of concern that had been circulating online, that there was some connection to that."
Prior to her television appearances, it is also noteworthy that Rice was not briefed by officials from the State Department or Defense Department but rather by President Obama's 2012 campaign manager, David Plouffe.
But you know, there's nothing to see here, just move along.
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