Rubio Is Lying About Hillary Lying
The Republican candidate’s claims about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi fall apart under scrutiny.
...In the CBS interview, Rubio insisted “there was never, ever any evidence that [the Benghazi attack] had anything to do with a video.” That statement contradicts eyewitness reports. According to the
New York Times, witnesses in Benghazi saw a militant named Ahmed Abu Khattala “directing the swarming attackers who ultimately killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. ... Abu Khattala told fellow Islamist fighters and others that the assault was retaliation for the same insulting video, according to people who heard him.” The
Times also
reports that according to witnesses, “there was no peaceful demonstration against the video outside the compound before the attack. ... But the attackers, recognized as members of a local militant group called Ansar al-Shariah, did tell bystanders that they were attacking the compound because they were angry about the video.” So the facts are more complex than Rubio lets on. Militants, while executing the attack, used the video at least as a public pretext. Rubio’s statement—that there was never any evidence that the attack had anything to do with the video—is false...
Rubio’s core allegation against Clinton is that she went “around the country” and “
in front of the press for over a week,” telling “the American people” that the attack was “because of some video that someone produced that led to a spontaneous uprising.” On right-wing websites, you’ll find plenty of affirmation for this myth.
National Review,
Red State,
Townhall.com, the
Daily Caller, and other outlets
agree that Clinton “
blamed the ‘awful Internet video’ for the massacre,” told “
the American public that the anti-Islam video was what caused the attack,” and “
was the author of the lie about what caused the attack.” But when you click their links and study their evidence, the case falls apart.
Townhall.com presents
video recordings of Clinton’s remarks after the attack. One recording is titled,”Hillary Clinton Claims Youtube Video Responsible for Benghazi Attack." But the recording doesn’t show that. Instead, it shows Clinton addressing “the video circulating on the Internet that has led to these protests in a number of countries.” And that’s true: According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Benghazi attack coincided with “
approximately 40 protests around the globe against U.S. embassies and consulates in response to an inflammatory film...”
...So, how many times did Clinton publicly blame the Benghazi attack on the video?
The full timeline of her post-attack statements, compiled by Factcheck.org, shows the answer: zero. Clinton chose her words carefully because, although some reporting suggested a connection between the video and the attack, the exact relationship wasn’t clear. “There were scores of attackers that night, almost certainly with differing motives,” she later
wrote in her autobiography. “It is inaccurate to state that every single one of them was influenced by this hateful video. It is equally inaccurate to state that none of them were.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...o_is_lying_about_hillary_clinton_lying.2.html