For the second straight day, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied a recently released email was proof of the administration’s attempt to spin the deadly Benghazi terrorist attacks as the result of a spontaneous protest, an explanation that a key member of the House committee investigating the attacks dismissed as “laughable”.
The email from White House official Ben Rhodes came to light as part of a Freedom of Information request from the watchdog group Judicial Watch. In it, Rhodes urges then-Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice to attribute the attack to spontaneous street protests in many Arab cities over an internet video that was critical of Islam and Mohammed. Ambassador Chris Stevens and diplomat Sean Smith were killed in the attack at the consulate. Ex-Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods died hours later at the CIA Annex in Benghazi.
Carney rejects the notion that the email is evidence of any sort of cover-up for the administration’s failure to protect the consulate in Benghazi or take action to assist Americans under fire during the seven-hour assault.
“This document was not about Benghazi,” said Carney, who asserts the references to the protests in the email were about major demonstrations Egypt, Yemen and Tunisia the same day that the protesters said were in response to the video.
“(Rice) relied for her answers on Benghazi on the document prepared by the CIA, as did members of Congress,” said Carney.
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and its national security subcommittee. He isn’t buying Carney’s explanation.
“That’s laughable, actually laughable, and it’s sad. We constantly look back at the emails then between Cairo and Libya and they pointed out there was a document that showed people hardly even knew about the video,” said Gosar. “This is laughable if it wouldn’t be so tragic, that the White House and Jay Carney actually hold to this narrative. It’s deplorable.”
Gosar says the significance of the Rhodes email takes on further credence in light of the administration’s actions in the wake of the attacks in September 2012.
“I think it’s very significant. It gets even worse. You see the perpetration almost two weeks after Benghazi with the president’s speech at the United Nations, in which he addresses this very video,” said Gosar. “This actually tries to establish the president with a better narrative going into the election.”
If in fact the administration’s emphasis on the video was fabricated, Gosar says it’s certainly not a unique occurrence.
“This shows an intentional pattern. We see the lies in Obamacare. We see the lies in Benghazi. We see the lies in regards to the IRS. There’s got to be accountability in this administration. Somebody’s got to take a fall,” said Gosar.
Despite the current White House efforts to minimize the significance of the email, Gosar believes this reignites the commitment of Republicans to get to the truth and puts pressure on the White House to be more forthcoming.
“This puts the onus back onto the White House to come clean and get the documents out here. It also puts the onus on the attorney general of the United States to do his due diligence to make sure that the people who were involved in this have the ability to speak clearly to the oversight committee and the committees of reference. That is absolutely part of the problem,” he said.
“In my district and throughout the state of Arizona, this constantly comes up because it’s one of the few times that we watched men die and did nothing,” said Gosar.
While the White House might be on its heels at the moment, Gosar admits there are two factors working against the committee’s efforts to get more answers. He says first major hurdle is a Democratic Party completely disinterested in the truth.
“They’re toeing the party line. I think what they need to do it put their justice hats on, blindfold themselves and listen to the facts. The facts ring loud and clear. The biggest thing we’re entitled to is to let the facts come forward and let them fall where they may,” said Gosar.
The other great frustration for Gosar and other Republicans is what they characterize as the slow drip of paperwork being provided by the administration, which they say is evidenced by the Rhodes email coming forth in a legal request by a private organization and not made available to the committee in the first place. The congressman there’s plenty of information yet to be gathered.
“There’s a lot more. When you look at the tons of paperwork that is required by the federal government’s own admission, there’s a lot more out there and we need to get that. Once again, we’ve got to get back to the rule of law and make sure that we have the documents that we, in our Constitution, are entitled to have for oversight of the executive branch,” said Gosar, who adds it is the job of the attorney general to make sure the committee has all of the documents it has requested.
But while the effort to discover all the facts on Benghazi has been challenging, Gosar says the pursuit of the truth will not stop.
“It’s now taken us 20 months to get information. Senator (Ted) Cruz made the comment we know less now than we knew before because we lack the due diligence of this administration to give us the information as it occurred. We need to get to the bottom of these answers,” said Gosar.
