Commentator Charles Krauthammer challenged the mainstream media to report on documents released this week directly tying then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s Benghazi talking points to instructions in an email from a White House official.
“The mainstream media are going to say, ‘Oh, it’s so complicated,’ and they’re not going to look into this and without it it’s going to be quite a struggle,” Krauthammer said last night on Fox’s “Special Report.”
He was referring to emails obtained through a lawsuit by Judicial Watch that reveal senior White House official Ben Rhodes instructed that Rice blame an “Internet video”—not a policy failure—for the terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left the U.S. ambassador and three others dead.
The email Krauthammer called “the smoking document” implicating the White House is dated three days after the attack on Sept. 11, 2012.
One goal of Rice’s appearances Sept. 16 on all five Sunday morning talk shows was “To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy,” according to Rhodes’ email.
Rice is now Obama’s national security adviser. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser at the time, continues on as Rice’s deputy for strategic communications and speechwriting.
Krauthammer condemned the Obama administration for shifting responsibility for the sanitized talking points to intelligence officials.
>>> Read More: New Evidence Shows White House Role in Changing Benghazi Talking Points
“Now we know from [Mike] Morrell, who testified under oath—he at the time was the deputy director at the CIA—that he never brought up the video, so it didn’t come from him. That leaves only the White House and the State Department,” Krauthammer said.
“I just don’t know if there’s going to be any interest in the mainstream media,” Krauthammer said, adding:
The fact that it was redacted when the documents were asked for [by Congress] and only revealed by a court order is telling you that this is a classic cover-up of a cover-up.”
This story was produced by The Foundry’s news team. Nothing here should be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation.
Check out this Heritage video about the White House and Benghazi:
