Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with a Congressional Panel yesterday to discuss the terrorist attack last September 11th that killed four Americans, including our Ambassador to Libya. Among those talking with Mrs. Clinton was Congressman Jeff Duncan.
He told the Secretary of State that Americans are frustrated over the handling of the matters in Benghazi. He challenged her comment of being ‘clear-eyed’ about the issue, saying that she should have known about Ambassador Chris Stevens memo from Augsut that said our consulate could not be defended from a coordinated attack.
Referring Hillary Clinton to a request for more security that was denied on June 7th, Jeff Duncan said “Madame Secretary, you let the consulate become a death trap. And that’s national security malpractice.”
Noting Clinton said she takes responsibility for the situation, Duncan asked “What does responsibility mean, Madam Secretary?” He added “You’re still in your job. And there are four people at the Department of State that have culpability in this, that are still in their jobs. I heard the answer about firing or removing personnel. I get that, but this was gross negligence. At what point in time can our administration, and our government fire someone whose gross negligence left four Americans dead in Benghazi?”
Hillary Clinton replied: “I think that I’ve made that very clear, Congressman. And let me say that we’ve come here and made a very open, transparent presentation. I did not have to de-classify the ARB, I could have joined 18 of the ARBs under both Democratic and Republican administrations, kept it classified, and then, you know, just said goodbye. That’s not who I am, that’s not what I do. And I have great confidence that the Accountability Review Board, did the job they were asked to do. Made the recommendations that they thought were based on evidence, not on emotion.”
Duncan responded “you haven’t provided the call logs of the messages, the instant messages, during the attack between the post and the operation center. In an era of transparency, will you release these communications between Benghazi, Tripoli, and Washington?” Hillary Clinton told Jeff Duncan she would get him an answer on that.