Dec. 30: Fox News: New York Times Editor defiant about Benghazi report amid lawmaker criticism:
A New York Times editor on Monday staunchly defended a controversial report on the Benghazi attack which largely backed the State Department's narrative, amid withering criticism from congressional Republicans and others.   The State Department, as might be expected, also spoke in defense of the New York Times article.   "Much of what's in this in-depth investigation ... tracks with what the [internal review board] found and with our understanding of the facts," spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday. 

The lengthy Times report and the subsequent fallout represent the latest battle over the public narrative of what happened the night of Sept. 11, 2012. Even the State Department's internal review did not offer a definitive explanation of what caused the attack and who was behind it.  The Times investigation, though, aggravated some of the department's toughest critics by concluding there was no involvement from Al Qaeda or any other international terror group and that an anti-Islam film played a role in inciting the initial wave of attacks.  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Roger, R-MI, told "Fox News Sunday" that the intelligence community would dispute that. He said the story was "not accurate." 

Dec. 9: The Daily Caller: Democratic Congresswoman awkwardly resuses to answer questions about Benghazi:
New Hampshire Democratic Rep. Ann Kuster clumsily refused to answer a question on the Benghazi attacks during a recent town hall, frantically looking to the moderator for assistance instead. A video uploaded Sunday to Youtube shows the congresswoman reading a prepared question from a constituent about whether she supports a House resolution authorizing the creation of a select committee to investigate the September 11, 2012 attacks on a Beghazi consulate, which killed Libyan ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Kuster at first nervously mumbled “I don’t have . . . It’s a Senate thing — I don’t think we have anything about that in the House.”  The congresswoman had just read out the name and description of HR 36, the House resolution creating the investigative committee. Things got weirder after a constituent called her out for dismissing “the rest of this” question (follow link above for the full story)

Benghazi is in North Africa. But as part of the large strip of Arabic-speaking Islamic countries stretching from Egypt to Morocco, it’s safe to include Libya as part of the political, if not geographic, Middle East. And Kuster’s dodge was certainly more about politics than geography.   Many questions still surround what happened that night in Benghazi, Libya — including why the military was told to stand down, what dozens of CIA operatives were doing on the ground that night, and why witnesses have been subjected to monthly lie detector tests.

Dec. 4: Fox News: CIA witnesses offer more evidence that  Benghazi Attack Planned Ahead of Time:
CIA personnel who testified Tuesday on the Benghazi attack provided new evidence that it was premeditated, telling lawmakers that the deadly mortar strike on the CIA annex began within minutes of a rescue team's arrival, Fox News has learned.    According to the closed-door testimony on the Hill by two CIA personnel, a small team was sent on the night of the attack from Tripoli and got held up at the Benghazi airport. After they were eventually cleared, they arrived at the annex. Witnesses testified that it did not seem coincidental that the mortar attack began soon after.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-GA, told Fox News after the closed, classified session that all of the witnesses (eight total witnesses have now testified in these sessions) were on the same page about the nature of the mortar attack, which killed former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty on the annex roof.  "These were trained people and ... it was an attack. It wasn't over any type of film or propaganda," Westmoreland emphasized, referring to the administration's initial claims that an anti-Islam film triggered protests that led to the attack.  "We don't know why the administration would have ever thought any differently," Westmoreland said. "Other than that they and the State Department were trying to make sure that they were covered because of the unpreparedness they were in."

Nov. 25: Fox News: CIA personnel testify they were on alert over the anniversary of 9/11 in Benghazi
Personnel working at the CIA annex in Benghazi were well aware that the 9/11 anniversary last year could be a flashpoint, according to recent testimony, and a notice was even posted on a bulletin board at the annex warning of potentially increased hostilities against western targets during that period.   The new details emerged during recent closed-door briefings by CIA personnel including former contractors, according to those familiar with the testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

The witnesses also voiced concern about Ambassador Chris Stevens’ visit to Benghazi right before the 9/11 anniversary; Stevens was killed in the attack.  Given an understanding between the local CIA personnel and the nearby State Department operation that they would come to each other’s aid, the CIA on the ground in Benghazi was aware of Stevens’ arrival in Benghazi on Sept. 10, according to the witnesses. But they told lawmakers they were puzzled as to why Stevens was there during a period of heightened threat without significant additional security.

The new testimony appears to challenge the findings of the Accountability Review Board -- known as the State Department ARB -- which explicitly stated that the Benghazi consulate and the State Department “were well aware of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks but at no time were there ever any specific, credible threats against the mission in Benghazi related to the September 11 anniversary." 

Nov. 20: Fox News: State employees at Benghazi knew they were in a death trap and made distress calls for help:
State Department employees at the Benghazi compound knew they were in a death trap and made a series of radio distress calls to the CIA annex during the terror assault last year, according to congressional sources familiar with recent testimony on the attack from five CIA personnel.  Sources told Fox News that the radio calls, which were described in closed testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, were characterized as almost frantic, with State Department employees who knew they could not defend themselves "pleading" for their lives. 

When the CIA team arrived from the annex about a mile away, they found the State Department employees without guns that could adequately protect them; one of the agents was found hiding in the consulate, apparently in a closet. The testimony lends more weight to repeated claims, in the wake of the attack, that the consulate was not adequately protected despite being located in a volatile and violent area prone to attack. 

When the CIA personnel were asked for their reaction to the administration's initial explanation that an anti-Islam video and a demonstration gone awry were to blame for the attack, Fox News is told they were seething with anger because everything on the ground -- from their perspective -- showed it was a premeditated attack.  At least three of the five -- who were all in Benghazi -- responded to the scene that night. The witnesses testified that five mortars rained down on the annex in less than a minute. They pointed to those details as more evidence of a professionally trained team, describing the attack on the annex as akin to a professional hit on the operation in order to drive it out of Benghazi.   Congressional sources say the testimony seems to further conflict with and undercut the briefing three days after the attack by then-CIA Director David Petraeus, who likened the attack to a flash mob.

Nov. 16: Fox News: CIA personnel asked to sign additional non-disclosure forms after the attack on Benghazi
At least five CIA personnel, including government contractors, were asked to sign a second non-disclosure agreement after the Benghazi terrorist attack, Fox News has learned.  While the three-page NDA, obtained by Fox News, does not contain specific references to the 2012 attack which killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, it does contain standard language that unauthorized disclosures could lead to "temporary loss of pay or termination" and "in some circumstances, constitute a criminal offense."

Sources not authorized to speak on the record, given the sensitivity of this week's closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, said the five CIA personnel did not feel pressure to sign the document. But they felt the request for a second non-disclosure agreement after the terrorist attack was odd and not standard practice because their original NDA's were still in effect, and only some in the group were undergoing contract modifications that might require a new NDA.

Nov. 13: Fox News: Details emerge about Americans badly injured in Benghazi attack
In addition to the four Americans killed in the Benghazi terror attack last year, at least two other Americans were severely injured in the fighting that night, Fox News has learned.  The injuries were sustained by U.S. personnel after mortars struck the CIA annex rooftop they were defending. Fox News is told that one former government contractor -- who is expected to testify this week along with four other contractors in classified sessions on Capitol Hill -- has had multiple surgeries since the attack and has still not regained full use of one arm. 

The latest details are emerging as the House Intelligence Committee hears this week from contractors who were on the ground in Benghazi. Fox News has learned that they will give their accounts in closed, classified sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

Nov. 13: Fox News: Poll: 65% want Congress to keep investigating the Benghazi attack:
As the House Select Committee on Intelligence meets with witnesses to the Benghazi attack, Americans by a two-to-one margin want Congress to continue to investigate the Obama administration’s handling of the terrorist attack that killed four Americans including a U.S. ambassador.   A just-released Fox News poll finds 65 percent of voters want lawmakers to keep investigating what happened in Benghazi.  While that’s still a majority, support is down from 71 percent who felt that way six months ago (June 22-24, 2013).

Nov. 6: The Daily Beast: CIA Contractor’s Testimony could undermine Obama on Benghazi
Rep. Devin Nunes has kept his powder dry for more than a year when it comes to Benghazi. On Wednesday, however, he made it known to House Speaker Boehner that Congress’s investigation has, in his view, failed to answer important questions about the lead up, night of, and aftermath of the attack.  In a letter to Boehner, Nunes writes “there are significant discrepancies” between the timeline of events at Benghazi offered last year by the Obama administration to Congress and the account of “witnesses on the ground in Benghazi.”

Nunes, who sits on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, says eyewitnesses assert that there was no lull in the fighting that evening between the siege of the U.S. mission and the mortar attacks at dawn the next morning that killed Tyrone Woods and Glenn Doherty, two CIA contractors who were manning the roof of the agency’s annex that evening.  Whether the attacks in Benghazi occurred in two waves—the assault on the U.S. mission and then a later mortar attack on the CIA annex—is crucial to determining whether air support that evening would have made a difference.

The Department of State’s Accountability Review Board report says the initial attack on the diplomatic mission began between 9:45 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. local time in Benghazi. By midnight, all but two Americans there were rescued.  The report says there was an hour of light arms fire after midnight and then a lull in fighting until 5 a.m. the next morning, when a second wave attack with mortars began about 15 minutes after a second team of CIA contractors arrived at the annex.  If there was a lull in the fighting that night, as the report states, more air support or specialized counter-terrorism teams would likely not have made much of a difference. If the fighting continued throughout the night, however, or the witnesses allegedly say, the decision not to send more backup that evening would be a more serious blunder, Nunes contends.

Nov. 3: The Hill: Graham hopeful of Benghazi interviews:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday he shouldn’t have to threaten to hold up all Obama administration nominees to get answers about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, last year.   Graham said he is hopeful the administration will eventually relent and allow Congress to interview survivors of the attack. 
“I shouldn’t have to do this,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I shouldn’t have to make these kind of threats. They should provide, in a responsible way, those who lived through Benghazi to be interviewed separate and apart from the Obama administration to find out what happened.  Can you imagine if this was George W. Bush and he told the Congress after 9/11 you can’t talk to anybody because there is a potential criminal investigation?” he asked.  

The State Department said investigators have interviewed all the survivors of the attack and notes no one has been barred from testifying before Congress. But the administration has said congressional testimony could impede the investigation.   Graham is also asking for copies of the FBI interviews with British security guard Dylan Davies.  The Administration has “leaked” a partial report in order to discredit a Davies interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Graham contended.  “I want those FBI Interviews…   …If he is lying I want to know that. But give to me and the Congress the full information he provided to the government.”

Oct. 30: The Hill:  Senator Ayotte: Benghazi attacker living the high life, Why?
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the FBI for allowing the suspects in the Benghazi, Libya, attack to roam free more than a year after the terror attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.  “One person who’s been indicted — and others — are being allowed to just hang out in cafes in Libya without any accountability,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) said. “It really makes you wonder what is going on here.”

Ayotte made the comment during a press conference with six House and Senate Republicans aimed at highlighting Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) vow to hold up President Obama’s nominees over unanswered questions about the attack on Sept. 11, 2012. She pointed out that Ahmed Abu Khattalah, the founder of Libya’s Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia and who has reportedly been named in a sealed indictment, has been freely giving media interviews in Libya.  “Where have our law enforcement officials been in terms of capturing Khattalah, who seems to be spending his time at cafes and allowing the media to talk to him?” said Ayotte, a former prosecutor.

Graham confirmed Wednesday that his threat to hold up Obama’s nominees over unanswered questions about the Benghazi attack extends to Janet Yellen, the nominee to head the Federal Reserve.  “It’s the only leverage that we have,” Graham told reporters.

Oct. 27: Fox News: First Western Eyewitness to Benghazi Goes Public with an Account
The first Western eyewitness to the deadly Benghazi terror attacks has given an account of the seven-hour assault on the U.S. outpost in Libya and says Americans knew such an incident was inevitable.  The witness -- a former British soldier who for decades helped protect U.S. diplomats and military leaders -- told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that Al Qaeda forces first attacked the U.S. Special Mission Compound in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed. Then they launched a second attack on a secret CIA annex about a mile across the city.

“They knew what they were doing,” the security guard told CBS. “That was a well-executed attack.”  The guard said he was in his apartment about 15 minutes away from the attacks when he learned of them through a frantic phone call from a Libyan guard.  “I could hear gunshots,” said the guard, “And he said, ‘There are men coming into the mission’ … You could tell he was really scared and he was running.”  The guard also told CBS that he considered the security forces hired to protect the U.S. interests in Benghazi lax and suggested the attack appeared inevitable.

Oct. 17: Fox News: House panel eyes White House documents
As they wrap up their 13-month probe into the terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, congressional investigators have zeroed in on a press release issued the day before the murders by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.  They also are seeking fresh testimony from former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Staffers with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations told Fox News they have reached the preliminary conclusion – as the Obama administration has long maintained – that no military rescue or remedy was feasible on the night of September 11, 2012, when U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans died amid an eight-hour assault by terrorists on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and a nearby annex.

However, House investigators have also determined that the reason no military forces could be rallied to intervene in Benghazi is because U.S. military assets were poorly postured amid the turmoil of that period, as the eleventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks approached. 

“My job was to look at the days and the weeks and the months and the years leading up to that day, and ask the question: Why weren’t we prepared, and who is responsible?” said Subcommittee Chair  Martha Roby (R-AL).    “If the White House is projecting that we were safe, the White House has to take responsibility of our lack of preparedness.”

Oct. 5: The Daily Caller:  Issa: Benghazi attack result of Clinton’s reckless, ill-advised ‘war on terror’ policies:
Responsibility for the September 11 Benghazi assault and the deaths of four U.S. citizens — including Libyan ambassador Chris Stevens — lies personally at the feet of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa.  “The investigation really is now not about what we know, but about how we can prevent abuse of security before the fact, how we respond during the fact, and how we hold people accountable after the fact for deliberate misinformation — if you want to be kind — [and] outright lies, if not,” said Issa, who serves as head of the Oversight and Government reform committee.

Clinton recklessly pursued an ill-advised policy of “normalization” meant to make the U.S. look like it was winning the war on terror, dividing the State and Defense Departments. The rift between the two weakened cooperation — the full weight of assets that the U.S. could have deployed to help the Americans stranded in the consulate were not dispatched, since the State department did not want to involve military forces for the sake of appearances, Issa said.

“We know from Hillary Clinton on down there was a policy of normalization to make it appear as though we had won the war on terror,” Issa said. “I was in Libya just the other day, and one thing that I came back with was a strong opinion that that ‘stand down’ had everything to do with the fight between Department of State headed Hillary Clinton and the Defense Department, and that ultimately, State was willing to put their assets in, and did not want any military assets in, because they did not want to escalate what ultimately should have been escalated to a real rescue mission.”

Sept. 18: Fox News: House Republicans: State Dept. officials should have been fired over Benghazi:
House Republicans on Wednesday criticized a ranking State Department official for the failure to hold other top agency officials accountable for security lapses at the Benghazi mission, where four Americans were killed last year.  “Let’s look at how the department’s review process has played out,” said California Republican Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The Accountability Review Board “failed to interview the secretary of State and improbably capped responsibility at the assistant secretary level.” 

Royce’s criticism of Patrick F. Kennedy, the department’s undersecretary for management, came during the committee's fourth hearing on Benghazi. Members continue to probe whether pre-attack requests for extra security were met, whether more could have been done to respond to the scene of the attack on Sept. 11, and why the internal review board didn't hold higher-ranking officials responsible. 

Kennedy on Wednesday defended the State Department's actions over the course of the three-hour grilling, including the decision to place four agency officials on temporary, administrative leave, before re-assigning them. Kennedy claimed the shuffling of positions was tantamount to accountability.  “I submit respectfully, Mr. Chairman, that accountability includes being relieved from your job and assigned to other positions,” Kennedy said. “To me, that is serious accountability.” 

One of the officials has since resigned, and the others have been reinstated. However, their new positions carry “lesser responsibility,” Kennedy said.

“Nobody missed a paycheck,” Royce countered. “Reassignment just doesn’t cut it in terms of addressing that issue.”

Florida Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the agency continues to “merely shuffle the deck chairs,” by reassigning officials, not firing them. 

Sept. 17: Fox News: House panel investigating Benghazi attack could recall senior witnesses, Issa says
The State Department's investigation into the Benghazi terror attack – put forth by the White House as the final word on the incident - is deeply flawed, according to the chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee.  Darrell Issa of California told Fox News in an exclusive interview his panel will not hesitate to recall the most senior witnesses who have testified about the Sep.11, 2012 attack.  "We can certainly have Mrs. Clinton back,"  Issa said of the former Secretary of State.  "We want to be respectful of her time, so getting to the facts, including people below her, first is critical."

The Republican staff report presented to Issa, first reported Sunday by Fox News, alleges that the State Department's investigation, known as the Accountability Review Board or ARB, let senior state department officials off the hook. They included Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, who signed a December 2011 "action memo" green lighting the Benghazi post with substandard security.   "If he (Kennedy) doesn't want to tell us why people above him knew and allowed it, then all we can assume is that he kept it to himself," Issa said.

On Wednesday, Kennedy will be the star witness at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Benghazi, where he is expected to face aggressive questioning on whether he or Clinton were responsible for the policy decisions that created what critics have called "a death trap."  On Thursday, the co-chairs of the State Department investigation will testify before the House Oversight Committee. According to committee depositions, the Republican staff report found the ARB sought to affix blame at the lowest level possible.

Sept. 16: Fox News: State Department Review Let Senior Officials Off the Hook; Report Finds
The State Department review of the Benghazi terror attack let senior officials off the hook for the policy decisions that led to sub-standard security at the U.S. compound in eastern Libya, according to a draft House committee report obtained by Fox News.   The nearly 100-page report concludes that the State Department’s internal review board -- called the ARB -- was flawed. The report by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee alleges the board’s probe was not comprehensive, its interviews were not thorough, and the investigation itself may have been damaged by conflicts of interest.

A central finding is that the department, as a result of the board’s findings, meted out discipline to four mid-level officials (who were later re-instated anyway), but the board glossed over the actions and decisions of senior-level officials. The report claims the internal review identified many of the security problems with the Benghazi compound, while ignoring who was behind the policy decisions that led to them.  Specifically, the report points to the authorization by Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy to continue operating the ad hoc compound in Benghazi. The interim report found that a December 2011 action memo, prepared by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and signed off on by Kennedy, green-lighted the operation. Witnesses told Republican investigators that this decision to run the operation on an ad hoc basis was largely responsible for the inadequate security presence on the ground in Benghazi, not money. 

The report also noted that it’s unclear which other senior leaders were involved in this decision but said it is likely, based on email evidence, that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s views played a role in the decision-making.  None of the four State Department employees who were disciplined after the ARB was released in December, and later re-instated by Secretary of State John Kerry in August, were responsible for making policy. The draft states that the use of administrative leave was meant to leave the impression of accountability.

Sept. 14: The Hill:
State Dept. could have fired employees over Benghazi attack, Pickering says
The State Department could have fired two employees over last year’s terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, the chairman of the independent panel that investigated the crime told The Hill.  “Our report recommended two people should leave their jobs, nothing more, nothing less,” former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the chairman of the Accountability Review Board, told The Hill in an e-mail.  Asked if that meant firing or reassignment, he said “either,” but that it was “up to the Department of State.”  “We left open their staying on in the Department,” Pickering said.

The department instead announced last month that it has reassigned the two employees, along with two others who were also faulted by the panel but weren't singled out for disciplinary action.  That decision is expected to come under stark criticism next week when the House rekindles its Benghazi investigation following the first anniversary of the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans last Sept. 11.

Pickering's comments mark the first public suggestion that two of them could have been fired as a result of Benghazi. The ARB report, released in December, faulted “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” at high levels of the State Department for inadequate security at the U.S. mission.

The ARB stopped short of officially recommending disciplinary action, however, because it lacked the authority to do so absent a finding of “breach of duty.” The State Department has repeatedly highlighted that fact to explain its decision not to fire anyone.

Sept. 8: Politico:  Cruz says Benghazi has “disappeared” from the radar:
Sen. Ted Cruz said on Sunday the Obama administration has forgotten about the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya – and has taken its focus off of the real threat to American security with proposed military strikes on Syria.  “One of the problems with all of this focus on Syria is its missing the ball from what we should be focused on, which is the grave threat from radical Islamic terrorism," the Texas Republican said on ABC's "This Week." "This is the one-year anniversary of the attack on Benghazi.  In Benghazi, four Americans were killed - including the first ambassador since 1979.”

“When it happened, the president promised to hunt the wrongdoers down, and yet a few months later, the issue has disappeared," Cruz said. "You don't hear the president mention Benghazi. Now it's a phony scandal."

Sept. 8: The Daily Caller: Congressman Wolf is talking about Benghazi:
Nearly one year after the Benghazi terror attack, questions remain unanswered and the investigation incomplete, says Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf.  Even with six different committees looking into aspects of the attack and the response by the Obama State Department, “The Congress, as of this moment, has failed to carry out its oversight responsibility,” Wolf told The Daily Caller. The solution, he said, is a single “select committee” with the authority and resources to get to the bottom of the U.S. government’s inept response.

The public still has not learned why help was not sent to the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, to rescue Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Ty Woods, Sean Smith and Glen Doherty. As a congressman of 22 years whose Northern Virginia district includes many in the federal workforce, and as a powerful appropriations subcommittee chairman, Wolf has been pressing for a select committee for months.  In this interview, Wolf discusses twenty things we know a year after the incident, including that someone issued “stand-down orders” preventing any attempt to rescue our brave Americans, violating the longstanding ethos of the American military to never leave a soldier behind. 

He also confirms how some federal employees watched the incident real time, “like a movie,” saying he has seen some of that footage. He discusses a hero who is severely wounded and still at Walter Reed hospital, but who, perhaps like others, has never been properly thanked by a nation for his heroism.  Wolf describes the stonewalling and intimidation of others who know what happened. Some have had to sign legally binding “non-disclosure agreements” with occasional “polygraph testing” to ensure the public never learns the facts. And he discusses how a Libyan plane, not an American plane, brought the wounded Americans home.

Aug. 23: Fox News: Sources Say Team involved in tracking Benghazi suspects pulls out
Two weeks after the Obama administration announced charges against suspects in the Benghazi attack, a large portion of the U.S. team that hunted the suspects and trained Libyans to help capture or kill them is leaving Libya permanently.  Special operators in the region tell Fox News that while Benghazi targets have been identified for months, officials in Washington could "never pull the trigger." In fact, one source insists that much of the information on Benghazi suspects had been passed along to the White House after being vetted by the Department of Defense and the State Department -- and at least one recommendation for direct action on a Benghazi suspect was given to President Obama as recently as Aug. 7.  

Meanwhile, months after video, photo and voice documentation on the Benghazi suspects was first presented to high-level military leaders, the State Department and ultimately the White House, prison breaks in the country have eroded security. U.S. special forces have now been relegated to a "villa," a stopover for the operators before they're shipped out of the country entirely.  "We put American special operations in harm's way to develop a picture of these suspects and to seek justice and instead of acting, we stalled. We just let it slip and pass us by and now it's going to be much more difficult," one source said, citing 1,200 prisoners escaping two weeks ago. "It's already blowing up. Daily assassinations, bi-weekly prison escapes, we waited way too long." 

The latest development raises questions about when the attackers will be brought to justice in the murder of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last September. The special operators are starting to get frustrated at the lack of action, and Fox News has been told by multiple sources that one special forces leader "literally yelled" at former Libyan Chief of Mission William Roebuck "and told him, 'so you're willing to let these guys get away with murder?'"  When asked about what actions have been taken on the suspects, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment. However, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation in Libya suggested there is always intelligence to be gained by simply watching and listening to the suspects. 

Aug. 18: Fox News: Anerican-born Al Qaeda militant praises Benghazi Attack, urges more violence:
A California-born convert to Islam is praising the killers of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in the Benghazi attacks on Sep. 11 last year, while calling for more violence against Western diplomats in the Middle East.  Al Qaeda militant Adam Gadahn, whose capture will garner a $1 million reward from the U.S. government, made the statements in a recently released video on Arabic websites frequented by terrorists, according to the SITE monitoring group.

Gadahn, indicted in California for treason and material support for Al Qaeda, called on wealthy Muslims to offer rewards for militants to kill ambassadors, citing bounties set by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group is offering 106 ounces of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and $23,350 for the killing of American soldiers in the country, according to Reuters.  Gadahn previously said in 2007 that Al Qaeda would target diplomats and facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan in response to U.S.-led military action. He is believed to be in Pakistan since 2004 and the FBI has been trying to question him, Reuters reports.

Aug. 16: The Daily Mail: Clinton exploded at Congressman
two days after Benghazi attack for suggesting it was the work of terrorists:
An Illinois Republican congressman told constituents at a town hall meeting on Wednesday that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton screamed at a fellow member of Congress two days after a U.S. diplomatic station in Benghazi, Libya was destroyed, merely for saying aloud that the attack was carried out by terrorist groups..  The Obama administration later acknowledged that reality.  But White House officials initially maintained that the deaths of four Americans and the firebomb attack on the State Department mission was the result of a spontaneous protest against a low-budget YouTube film that was critical of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

'Two days after this attack,' said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, 'we were in a briefing with Hillary Clinton and she screamed at a member of Congress who’d dare suggest that this was a terrorist attack.' 'Now we find out that while it was happening, they knew it was a terrorist attack. These are answers that we're going to get to the bottom of.'

inzinger's office told National Review Online that the meeting he referred to was a classified briefing held for all members of Congress.  The congressman appeared on the Fox News Channel on Friday, recalling Clinton 'basically, in a very loud, angry voice, [saying] "It's irresponsible to even suggest this is a terror attack. This is a YouTube video. We know that there are protests all over, and we need to be very careful how we're saying this" -- and basically chided this member of Congress.'

Aug. 7: Fox News: Terrorism: Obama sticking with decision to allow the release of Gitmo Yemen prisoners, then closes more than 20 embassies in the Arab world.
In spite of the ongoing terror threat emanating from Yemen, the White House says it does not plan to rethink President Obama's decision last May to lift a moratorium on releasing Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to that country.  “I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen, so we can review them on a case by case basis,” Obama told an audience at the National Defense University during a major counterterrorism policy speech on May 23.

The president is standing by that announcement, even though Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen that U.S. intelligence officials say is now the greatest Al Qaeda threat to the U.S. homeland, was formed in part by several former Guantanamo Bay detainees who were released in 2006. “A handful of former GITMO detainees, primarily Saudi citizens, made their way across the border into Yemen and they joined AQ in Yemen,” according to AQAP expert Gregory Johnsen, author of “The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia. It was that merger between people, former GITMO detainees from Saudi Arabia and the AQ escapees in Yemen, that really formed AQAP, the group that announced itself in January 2009, and that's the group we know today as AQAP.”

Aug. 7: The Daily Caller: Issa on Benghazi: CIA transfer of weapons to Syrian insurgents is not one of the things we know:
House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa said Tuesday that he has yet to confirm reports that the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that was attacked last September was somehow tied to a gun-running operation conducted by the CIA.  According to a CNN report last week, there has been “speculation” the U.S. operatives were helping to move surface-to-air missiles from Benghazi to Turkey, and then into the hands of Syrian rebels.  On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Tuesday, Issa said that was not something of which he was aware and it has not been the focus of his committee’s investigation.

Aug. 6: The Daily Caller: Benghazi: No one left to Lie!
Judicial Watch has now filed four separate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits in our continuing effort to force the Obama administration to finally tell the full truth about the Benghazi massacre. And the story that is emerging is one of political treachery in the highest places, beginning with outright lies about the nature of the attack itself and culminating with a great stone wall of secrecy to avoid accountability for one of the most deadly political scandals in recent American history.

On June 21, we filed our latest FOIA lawsuit in an attempt to obtain the “updates and/or talking points” provided to Obama U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice concerning the September 11, 2012, attack, which left four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, dead. Following the attack, Rice joined the president and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a high-profile – and patently false – campaign to portray the attack as solely related to a privately produced YouTube video that Muslims reportedly found offensive.

On the Sunday following the attack, Rice went on five Sunday talk shows, repeatedly claiming that the attack was “a spontaneous – not a premeditated response” to “a hateful video that was disseminated on the Internet.” Obama went before the UN to decry the video.  Clinton promised the father of slain Benghazi martyr Tyrone Woods that she would apprehend the video maker.  Obama and Clinton even went so far as to film a television commercial apologizing to the Pakistani people for the Video.

All the while, every one of them knew that they were lying about a lie. In fact, shortly after their worldwide campaign of deception, the Obama administration was forced to admit that Rice, Clinton, and, indeed, the president himself had provided false information, and that the attack was neither spontaneous nor the result of an Internet video.

Aug. 6: The Hill: U.S. files first criminal charges in the Benghazi attack:
The Justice Department has filed the first criminal charges stemming from last year’s attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, against Ahmed Khattalah, the leader of a Libyan militia, CNN reports.  Federal agents and prosecutors filed charges under seal against Khattalah for his role in the attack on Sept. 11, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that sealed charges had been filed against multiple suspects. Both reports said it was still unknown what specific charges were filed against the suspects in the Benghazi attack.

The charges are the first to stem from last year’s terrorist attack, which has become a political flashpoint for critics of the Obama administration. They have accused the Obama administration of failing to properly respond to the attack, pointing to the lack of charges against the perpetrators. Last week, Republicans were drafting a letter to new FBI Director James Comey, urging him to step up the Benghazi investigation and calling the administration’s efforts “simply unacceptable.”    "It has been more than 10 months since the attacks," the letter stated, which was spearheaded by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "We appear to be no closer to knowing who was responsible today than we were in the early weeks following the attack. This is simply unacceptable.”

Aug. 4: The Hill: Graham: Al-Qaeda “on steroids” since Benghazi attack:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday called the latest terror threat “scary,” and said that an emboldened al Qaeda has been “on steroids” since the last year's deadly strike on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya.   “I had a briefing with the vice president and it is scary,” Graham said on CNN's "State of the Union." “Al Qaeda is on the rise in this part of the world.”

“They attacked our consulate, they killed an ambassador, a year has passed, and nobody has paid a price,” he added. “After Benghazi, these al Qaeda types are really on steroids thinking we’re weaker and they’re stronger.”   Top administration officials huddled at the White House late Saturday over a terror threat that provoked the State Department to close more than 20 diplomatic posts and issue a worldwide travel alert.

Aug. 4: The Daily Caller:
Kristol: A year ago Obama said al-Qaida is on the run and now we are on the run:Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol remarked on Sunday that President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign rhetoric on foreign policy stood in stark contrast to the turmoil in the Middle East stirred by threats from al-Qaida, pointing out that the U.S. closed 22 embassies throughout the Muslim world.  “Four years ago President Obama gave a much heralded speech as outreach to the Muslim world,” Kristol said. “And now, four years later we are closing embassies throughout the Muslim world. A year ago, the president said al-Qaida is on the run. And now we seem to be on the run.”

Aug. 3: Business Insider: Intrigue Surrounding the Secret Operation in Benghazi is Not Going Away!
In May CNN's Jake Trapper argued that the CIA's presence in Benghazi should be scrutinized. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) agreed, saying: "There are questions that must be asked of the CIA and this must be done in a public way." The Agency, for its part, doesn't want anyone knowing what it was doing in the Libyan port city.

On Thursday CNN reported that the CIA "is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret." Sources told CNN that 35 Americans were in Benghazi that night — 21 of whom were working out of the annex — and that several were wounded, some seriously. One source said: "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation." Among the questions are whether CIA missteps contributed to the security failure in Benghazi and, more importantly, whether the Agency's Benghazi operation had anything to do with reported heavy weapons shipments from the local port to Syrian rebels.

In short, the CIA operation is the most intriguing thing about Benghazi. Here's what we know:
At about 9:40 p.m. local time on Sept. 11, a mob of Libyans attacked a building housing U.S. State Department personnel. At 10:20 p.m. Americans arrived from a CIA annex located 1.2 miles away, to help the besieged Americans. At 11:15 p.m. they fled with survivors back to the secret outpost.

Armed Libyans followed them and attacked the annex with rockets and small arms from around midnight to 1:00 a.m., when there was a lull in the fighting. Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL and CIA security contractor, was with a team of Joint Special Operations Command military operators and CIA agents in Tripoli at the time of the attack. When they received word of the assault on the mission, Doherty and six others bribed the pilots of a small jet with $30K in cash for a ride to Benghazi. At about 5:15 a.m., right after Doherty's group arrived, the attackers began shooting mortars at the annex, leading to the death of Doherty and fellow former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor Tyrone Woods.

At 6 a.m. Libyan forces from the military intelligence service arrived and subsequently took more than 30 Americans — only seven of whom were from the State Department — to the Benghazi airport. Sources told CNN that 35 Americans were in Benghazi that night and as many as seven were wounded, some seriously, and 21 were working out of the annex. So the CIA's response to go to the mission where Ambassador Christopher Stevens was located, after being held back for 20 minutes, saved American lives but also ended up exposing the annex.

Aug. 2: Townhall.com: Bombshell: CIA using “unprecedented polygraphing, pure intimidation to guard Benghazi Secrets:
Waving away the Benghazi massacre as a "phony scandal" was vulgar and low class to begin with.  Now, it's totally inoperative as a talking point.  CNN sends Benghazi-gate into the stratosphere with a striking series of highly sensitive revelations.  Wow:

Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret. CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency's Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out. Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings. The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress. It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career. 

In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well."  Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation." Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that," said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.  In other words, the rate of the kind of polygraphs alleged by sources is rare.

Aug 2: The Hill: Congressman Gowdy alleges massive Benghazi cover-up:
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is accusing the Obama administration of a massive cover-up in the deadly Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack, saying it was “dispersing” witnesses around the country and changing their names in an effort to hide the truth about what happened. In an interview Thursday with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, Gowdy said the administration is "changing names, creating aliases" of U.S. agents who were in Benghazi on the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks. 

“Stop and think what things are most calculated to get at the truth? Talk to people with first-hand knowledge. What creates the appearance or perhaps the reality of a cover-up? Not letting us talk with people who have the most amount of information, dispersing them around the country and changing their names," Gowdy said.

According to a CNN report released on Thursday, “dozens” of CIA operatives were on the ground at the U.S. diplomatic annex in Benghazi during the attack that ended with the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The report says that Langley is taking extreme measures — including conducting monthly polygraph tests — to hide the agency’s operations in Benghazi and northern Libya at the time of the attack. The CIA is denying the report but in today’s climate of so many “scandals” coming out of Washington, DC these days, who is going to believe them?

Aug. 1: The Hill: Issa subpoenas State Dept. Documents on Benghazi:
Congress's top inquisitor subpoenaed the State Department on Thursday for documents detailing the inner workings of the independent board that probed the September attack in Benghazi, Libya. Republicans on the House Oversight panel have accused the Accountability Review Board (ARB) of seeking to protect former Secretary of State and possible 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in its investigation, notably by declining to interview her.

Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said he subpoenaed the department because he was being stonewalled. “After ignoring requests for months, the State Department has left no alternative but to issue subpoenas for documents relevant to our investigation,” said Issa. “State Department tactics to delay and impede accountability have exhausted the Committee’s patience. Further subpoenas may also be necessary if the Department is not forthcoming on other requests.” The request demands access to:

• all documents provided by the Department of State to the Accountability Review Board;
• all documents and communications referring or relating to ARB interviews or meetings, including, but not limited to, notes or summaries prepared during and after any ARB interview or meeting; and
• all documents that have been made available to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for closed-door review.

Aug. 1: The Daily Caller: Why is the CIA polygraphing Benghazi Operatives?
The CIA has been routinely subjecting its operatives to polygraph tests in order to keep secrets from the Benghazi terrorist attack from becoming public, CNN host Jake Tapper’s program claimed Thursday. Additionally, as many as 35 Americans were in the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya the night of the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack and at least seven were seriously injured, a source told CNN.  

“CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out. Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings. The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress. ”
“The CIA responded to CNN’s report in a statement, saying it ‘enabled all officers involved in Benghazi the opportunity to meet with Congress,’”

July 25: Fox News: Benghazi hero fought alongside fallen SEALs, still recovering at Walter Reed:
One of the most severely wounded survivors of the Benghazi terror attack, Diplomatic Security agent David Ubben, risked his life to help save his fellow Americans, and is still being treated at Walter Reed medical center to this day, Fox News has learned.  Fox News is the first news organization to make direct contact with Ubben -- who has had multiple surgeries at Walter Reed to save his right leg, which was badly wounded in the Sept. 11 attack. 

Fox News has also learned new details about Ubben's heroic actions on the night of the attack, including fighting alongside the former Navy SEALs who were later killed.  The Diplomatic Security agent, earlier in the night, helped recover the body of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, going back into the smoke and flames at the Benghazi consulate multiple times until he found Smith, whom he believed to be already dead from smoke inhalation.

Hearing of the details from Fox News, Sean Smith's mother Pat said she hopes one day to meet Ubben in person.  "Thank you very much for what you've done," Pat Smith said, her voice filled with gratitude but also anger. "Why couldn't the government have done the same thing? I think (Ubben) is a hero. He absolutely is a hero along with the two Seals that got it. There's no reason for all these people to die."

Ubben also went back into the smoke-and-flame filled Benghazi consulate several times searching for Ambassador Chris Stevens, but could not find him.   Sources tell Fox News that during the second wave of the attack, Ubben was on the roof of the CIA annex -- along with former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty -- defending the compound. It was a harrowing scene as dozens of militants attempted to swarm the barriers. In another sign the attacks were pre-meditated, three mortar rounds rained down on the compound. The first fell short of the annex, about 50 yards away, but the subsequent mortar rounds were direct hits.

July 23: WND News: Sixty Foot Petition Demands End to Benghazi Secrets:
It has been almost one year since the tragedy in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans were killed and 10 others were injured in a terror attack. Included in those murdered that day were U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, and two Navy Seals, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. But a lot of other information isn’t yet known about the attack that day.  So Special Operations Veterans have presented a petition of 1,000 names calling for a Select Committee in Congress to “end the cover-up” of the Benghazi scandal.  The petition is 60 feet long, and it was unrolled near the Capitol building Tuesday.

Special Operations Speaks officials say the presentation was the opening volley in a nationwide campaign urging House members to sign the discharge petition that would force House consideration of HR 36 – the bill to establish a Select Committee to fully investigate the Benghazi massacre.  The Special Operations Veterans are asking why there was no military response, and why the consulate was never secured. 

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolfe, R-VA, has sponsored the congressional resolution, HR 36, that calls for an investigation of the attack and the administration’s handling of it in the weeks that followed.   More than 120 members of Congress are co-sponsors.  Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-TX, has been front and center on the issue, and accuses his own speaker, Rep. John Boehner of doing too little. “If they were addressing (the situation), we would have gotten to the bottom of it by now,” he said.

July 23: The Daily Caller: Senate Committee approves promotion for author of the Benghazi talking points:
One of the authors of the infamous State Department Benghazi talking points is on track for a promotion after passing a key congressional hurdle Tuesday.  Lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by voice vote the promotion of Victoria Nuland to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.  Nuland was previously the top spokeswoman at the State Department.

Earlier this month, Nuland was grilled on Capitol Hill by Republicans about her involvement in crafting the department’s so called “talking points” during the aftermath of the attacks on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Critics say those talking points were used to protect the Obama administration and deflect blame for not preventing the attacks before the November 2012 elections. United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice used those talking points to argue on the Sunday shows that the attacks were not terrorism, but rather the result of a spontaneous uprising.  Some argue Nuland’s role in the Benghazi aftermath should preclude her from taking the job.  “It’s just gross that Toria is being promoted to assistant Secretary of State for Europe, the pinnacle of existence for members of the Foreign Service guild,” Christian Whiton, a State Department adviser during the Bush administration, told The Daily Caller. “She was instrumental in the Benghazi coverup and lied about her role. How this warrants a promotion is anyone’s guess.”

July 23: Fox News: Former military head says it was quite clear terrorists were behind Benghazi Attack:
The former head of U.S. forces in Africa, General Carter Ham, told the Aspen Security Forum that it quickly became clear the assault on the American consulate in Benghazi last year was a terrorist attack and not a spontaneous demonstration.  "It became apparent to all of us quickly that this was not a demonstration, this was a violent attack," Ham said. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initially had portrayed the embassy attack as a response to an inflammatory internet video.  Ham said he was in Washington D.C. for a routine meeting on September 11, 2012 with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Martin Dempsey, when an alert came in from commanders in Stuttgart, Germany that a violent assault was underway on the consulate in Benghazi and Ambassador Chris Stevens was missing.

Asked if it was a terrorist attack, Ham said the intelligence left no doubt that it was.  “I don't know if that was my first reaction, but pretty quickly as we started to gain understanding within the hours after the initiation of the attack, yes."  While Ham did not address reports he was pushed into retirement after Benghazi, he said a quick response to the attack was not possible -- and he defended the decision not to scramble fighter jets.  "It was perfectly understandable to me why people would say you should have done that (but) in my military judgment, there was not a necessity and there was not a clear purpose in doing so."

July 20: CNN: Former General: Knew early that Benghazi was a terrorist attack:
The former head of U.S. forces in Africa said the September 11, 2012, attack on the American mission in Benghazi quickly appeared to be a terrorist attack and not a spontaneous protest. It was clear "pretty quickly that this was not a demonstration. This was a violent attack," former Gen. Carter Ham told the Aspen Security Forum on Friday. Ham is the former chief of U.S. Africa Command, commonly known as AFRICOM. Five days after the attack, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday news shows to say it was the result of a spontaneous demonstration, not a terrorist strike.

While the State Department has maintained that Rice's erroneous talking points were the result of getting and reacting to information in real time, critics accuse the Obama administration of orchestrating a politically motivated cover-up over a botched response, and continue to press for answers as to when the administration knew they were dealing with a terrorist attack. When asked whether he specifically thought it was a terrorist attack, Ham said, "I don't know that that was my first reaction. But pretty quickly as we started to gain understanding within the hours after the initiation of the attack, yes. And at the command I don't think anyone thought differently."

Ham was in Washington for a meeting of all combat commanders when the attack was under way. Although a decision was made to send a drone from eastern Libya toward Benghazi, by the time it arrived above the facility, the attack on the mission was winding down.

July 20: The Daily Mail: Pentagon does about-face on key Benghazi witness, makes colonel available to Congress:
The U.S. Department of Defense has agreed to make available to Congress a Marine Corps colonel who was in command of U.S. Special Forces in Northern Africa on the night armed terrorists staged a military-style assault on an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya.  A series of requests for Marine Col. George Bristol's testimony from Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, both Republicans, had fallen on deaf ears until Friday. The Pentagon had claimed that since Bristol had retired, it 'cannot compel' him to tell congressional panels what he knows about the Benghazi attack.

Chaffetz said on July 9 that the Defense Department was 'not willing to pass along any sort of information' related to Bristol's whereabouts. Now Air Force Maj. Robert Firman has confirmed that due to an 'administrative error,' Bristol was mistakenly classified as a retired officer despite his current active-duty status.  'The Department of Defense has fully cooperated with congressional requests to understand the attacks on the Benghazi compound,' Firman said. 'Col. George Bristol, USMC, will be available to meet with House and Senate members and their staffs.'

July 19: Fox News: Wolf says Benghazi survivors were asked to sign Non-disclosure agreements:
Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., is calling on the Obama administration to explain why the survivors of last year's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, were reportedly asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that prevent them from talking about the attack. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and CIA Director John Brennan, Wolf said his office has received reports that some survivors of the attack were asked to sign the confidentiality agreement as recently as this summer.  "If these reports are accurate, it would raise serious questions about additional restrictions the State Department has placed on those with knowledge of the Benghazi attacks," Wolf said in the letter. "I also worry about the impact of any [non-disclosure agreements] on congressional efforts to understand fully what happened that night and why the agency responded as it did."

Wolf requested names and contact information for any State Department employees or contractors who may have been asked to sign the documents. A congressional source told Fox News in May that Hill staffers investigating the attack believed about 37 personnel were in Benghazi on behalf of the State Department and CIA on Sept. 11.  About 33 people were eventually evacuated. Of them, a State Department official confirmed there were three diplomatic security agents and one contractor who were injured in the assault -- one seriously.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said earlier this year that some of the survivors injured in the attack have been "told to be quiet" and feel they can't come forward to tell their stories. The South Carolina senator told Fox News in March that he’s “had contact” with some of the survivors, calling their stories "chilling." He said at time the Obama administration may have been “trying to cover it up,” citing the valuable information the survivors hold. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney denied allegations that administration officials were trying to silence Benghazi survivors when asked about the claims at a March press briefing. 

July 17: Politico:  What has become of the Benghazi Investigation?
After months of fiery hearings and vows to get to the bottom of Benghazi, House Republicans are now barely making a peep when it comes to an issue they once couldn’t stop talking about. Democrats say Republicans are lacking damaging evidence against the Obama administration in the aftermath of the attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Libya. They argue the House GOP is in retreat over the investigation that some conservatives believed could bring down the White House or tar a 2016 presidential candidate.

Some conservatives are concerned that their leadership isn’t pursuing Benghazi with enough zest. “I know our leadership in general does not want to look at that at all,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said. “They’ve said they have very little interest.” An aide to one House leader dismissed the notion that leadership is uninterested saying, “That claim is ridiculous, just totally, out-to-lunch.” Benghazi is an issue that House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) once seemed obsessed with. House Republicans appeared to score a win after a splashy May hearing featuring two State Department officials telling their stories of how they personally were affected by the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. But just one day later, the Internal Revenue Service revealed that it had been investigating conservative groups, and Republicans — including Darrell Issa’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee — had a new cause.

Months have now lapsed between Benghazi hearings, which in the churn of the 24-hour news cycle can feel like eons. The last public hearing in the House on Benghazi was on May 8. Issa offered to let the two men behind the investigation into the attacks, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Adm. Michael Mullen, testify before his committee next week. But the California Republican made the request for a date on which both men were unavailable.

July 11: Fox News: State Department Official grilled over Benghazi at confirmation hearing:
The debate over the Benghazi terror attack flared once again Thursday as senators grilled a diplomatic nominee over her role in massaging the Obama administration's initial story-line on the attack.  Republican senators repeatedly challenged Victoria Nuland, nominated as chief U.S. envoy for Europe, during her confirmation hearing before a Senate panel. The post typically would not receive this much scrutiny, but Nuland's prior job was as the top spokesperson in the State Department -- she was the face of the department in the days and weeks following the Benghazi attack.

Republicans say the full truth has not yet been told, and prodded for answers on the role Nuland played in pushing to change the so-called "talking points" after the attack. Those notes were ultimately used by then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to give a faulty account to the public about the nature of the attack. "It is pretty remarkable how sanitized they really were," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WS), said of the talking points.
He accused Nuland of being more interested in protecting her bosses' image than getting the truth out.  Nuland denied actually changing the talking points, noting she was acting in a "communications role" at the time and wanted to make sure all agencies were consistent in their message. 

July 5: CBS News: Republicans want to talk to Col. George Bristol about Benghazi:
Marine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he's high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don't know where he is and the Pentagon isn't telling.  Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense "cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress."  "They say he's retired and they can't reach out to him," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, told CBS News. "That's hogwash."

Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in Stars and Stripes, Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that "an evil" has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. "It is on us to stomp it out."

Members of Congress in both the House and Senate, including Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC] have asked the Pentagon for assistance in locating Bristol so that they can question him about events the night of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But those efforts have come up empty.  "The Department of Defense has been entirely forthcoming on all matters related to our response to the attacks in Benghazi from the outset," said Pentagon spokesman Firman. He added that "any congressional committee can call the witnesses it needs" through subpoena, if necessary.

On June 26, the House Armed Services Committee questioned other military members in the AFRICOM chain of command in a closed hearing. The witnesses included Bristol's former superiors: commander of Special Operations Command Africa Rear Adm. Brian Losey and former AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham. As to why the Defense Department made Ham available but not Bristol, when Ham is also retired from his post, the Pentagon said Ham was not yet officially retired.  Chaffetz says the Defense Department has actually been more responsive on Benghazi than other federal agencies, with a few exceptions including helping locate Bristol.

June 28: WND News: Breaking the  Benghazi Stonewall:
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) says the key to getting to the truth in the Benghazi investigation is hearing from the eyewitnesses who were there. In an exclusive interview with WND, he says the problem is “to date, no one who was on the scene has been called as a witness.” Wolf says the witnesses are being pressured to keep quiet, and “many are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements.” “Many would like to be subpoenaed, they can’t get subpoenaed,” he said. That’s why Wolf insists on forming a Select Committee to investigate and hold public hearings into what went wrong in Benghazi.

Wolf has introduced a bill, co-sponsored by 158 fellow House Republicans, to turn the investigation over to a Select Committee. He said that’s not a knock on Issa, who Wolf suggested could well chair the Select Committee, but he believes too much of the investigation has been done behind closed doors. Wolf said the only way to effectively find out what really happened would be to hold an open investigation by a committee that could focus on one issue, unlike Issa’s committee, which is also investigating scandals at the IRS and the Justice Department.

June 28: The Atlantic Wire: Boots on the Ground to write book about Benghazi:
Four people who were on the ground the night of the Benghazi attacks last year are writing a book about their experience, and they're getting a $3 million advance from Twelve Books to do it. The authors are unnamed, according to New York Post, which describes them as "members of the elite security team from the annex of the US Embassy." That annex, we now know, was the CIA annex, which makes this book deal really fascinating. The CIA managed its image spectacularly well by efficiently managing the public perception of its role in the events leading up to the terrorist attacks. While it initially looked like an attack on State Department diplomats, the public eventually found out that more than 20 of the 30 people working at the diplomatic post were CIA employees.

The two men on the rescue team who died in the second wave of attacks — which happened at the CIA annex — were initially described as Navy SEALs, but they were actually CIA contractors. When evacuating the main building,  The Daily Beast reported, it's possible the CIA contractors inadvertently led the terrorists to the location of the CIA annex. Mortars started hitting the annex minutes after the team arrived there.

June 25: The Washington Times | Fox News: Issa issues Benghazi subpoenas to Department of State:
In April, chairman Issa of the House committee investigating the Benghazi attack asked the Department of State to allow his committee to interview 13 officials who he believed had firsthand knowledge of the events in Benghazi.  In May he repeated the request.  With the State Department failing to be forthcoming, this week his committee issued subpoenas to force the appearance of at least some of these witnesses. In a letter to Secretary of State John F. Kerry released Monday, Mr. Issa detailed his efforts since April 29 to arrange interviews with the four mid-level officials identified as having failed to show leadership. The California Republican said in the letter that his committee’s investigators “have only been able to interview one of the 13 individuals with whom they requested interviews and the meeting was arranged without the State Department’s help.”  “These persistent delays create the appearance that the department is dragging its feet to slow down the committee’s investigation,” Mr. Issa wrote. “It does not require weeks of preparation to answer questions truthfully.”

June 21: Fox News: Trail of Benghazi security lapses leads to State Department senior leadership, records show
The decision to keep U.S. personnel in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the highest levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame over the Sept. 11 attack, according to a review of recent congressional testimony and internal State Department memos by Fox News.  Nine months before the assault State Department Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy signed off on an internal memo that green-lighted the Benghazi operation.  The December 2011 memo from Jeffrey Feltman -- then-Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) -- pledged "to rapidly implement a series of corrective security measures." However, no substantial improvements were made, according to congressional testimony to the House oversight committee from Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom. 

Nordstrom said the Benghazi operation never met the rigid standards set out by the Overseas Security Policy Board.  "We did not meet any of those standards with the exception of perhaps the height of the wall," Nordstrom testified. What's clear is that Benghazi was not referred to as a consulate in the "Action Memo for Under Secretary Kennedy" by Feltman. The omission may have exempted it from mandatory physical security standards.  In fact, the recently released "talking points" emails show that the State Department was insistent that the White House not refer to Benghazi as a consulate. Both Kennedy and Feltman signed the Dec. 27, 2011 memo titled: "Future of Operations in Benghazi."  The document also indicates that the CIA and State Department operations were separate, undercutting reports that the Benghazi mission was a cover for the agency's activities which included the rounding up of loose weapons after the fall of the Libyan dictator. The action memo notes that the "State presence cannot be accommodated at the annex and the current State facility is not large enough to permit co-location." 

June 17: Fox News: U.S. General to testify about Benghazi attacks and military response:
For the first time since the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attacks, the four-star general in charge of U.S. military assets in the Africa region will testify before Congress about what happened that night.  The hearing has been scheduled for June 26 at 9:00 a.m. and will be held by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.  Although the hearing will be closed to the public, retired Gen. Carter Ham will finally be questioned about his oversight of military assets in the region while dozens of Americans battled extremists for nearly eight hours in Benghazi on Sept. 11 and 12. No U.S. military assets other than an unarmed drone were ever provided to assist in the fight.  At the time of the attack Ham was serving as Commander of AFRICOM and happened to be in Washington D.C. for meetings. He spent much of the night in the National Military Command Center, a basement office and war operations center in the Pentagon.  Ham's retirement was announced just weeks after the incident, sparking rumors that he was being pushed aside after having expressed his desire for a more aggressive military response. 

Lt. Col. Steve "Hoot" Gibson and RADM Brian Losey are also scheduled to testify next Wednesday. Gibson is the Army lieutenant colonel who was in charge of a small group of special operators that, according to Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Hicks, received "stand down" orders after requesting to move from Tripoli to Benghazi on Sept. 12.  RADM Brian Losey is the Special Operations Commander for Africa who is said to have administered those orders.  Losey was stationed at AFRICOM's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany on the night of the attack. In addition asking about his alleged “stand down” orders, lawmakers will likely ask why his team of European-based special operators known as the CIF, or Commanders in Extremis Force, was not available to go to Benghazi sooner.  Though they deployed that night, the team only made it as far as a staging base in Sigonella, Italy.

June 16: Politico: House approach on Benghazi: Crazy or just plain stupid?
Sometimes watching Speaker John Boehner and his House Republican “leadership” team in action calls to mind that scene from “Forrest Gump” in which Bubba’s mother looks incredulously at Forrest and asks: “Are you crazy — or just plain stupid?” More than six months ago, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced a proposal to create a House Select Committee on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, a select committee being generally regarded as the best way to ensure an intelligent, well-coordinated, bipartisan investigation without fear or favor. Six months later, Wolf’s proposal is still stalled because a certain powerful interest group is blocking it. The powerful group keeping the House from doing the right thing is the House Republican “leadership!”

Boehner and his team are foolishly insisting on letting all six House committees that can claim any bit of jurisdiction for investigating what went wrong with Benghazi do so — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Armed Services, Homeland Security and Oversight and Government Reform — despite the fact that each is restricted to its own narrow scope. This wastes time, duplicates effort and stymies clear focus. Why insist on investigating the Benghazi scandal in such a maladroit manner? Because it: (1) frees Boehner from having to decide who should chair the investigation, thereby saving him from possibly offending the ones not selected; (2) enables six different committee chairs to bask in the spotlight as star of their very own investigation; and (3) gives every member who serves on one of these six committees — all 239 of them, or more than half of the House — a chance to appear on prime-time national television.

June 14: WNDNews.com: Admission by Chair of the Joint Chiefs: Special Forces were only hours from Benghazi
In a bombshell admission that has until now gone unreported, Martin Dempsey, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, conceded that highly trained Special Forces were stationed just a few hours away from Benghazi on the night of the attacks but were not told to deploy to Libya. In comments that may warrant further investigation, Dempsey stated at a Senate hearing Wednesday that on the night of the attack, command of the Special Forces – known as C-110, or the EUCOM CIF – was transferred from the military’s European command to AFRICOM, or the United States Africa Command. Dempsey did not state any reason for the strange transfer of command nor could he provide a timeline for the transfer the night of the attack. Also, Dempsey’s comments on the travel time between Croatia and Benghazi were incorrect.

His remarks for the first time confirm an exclusive Fox News interview aired April 30 in which a special government operator, speaking on condition of anonymity, contradicted claims by the Obama administration and a State Department review that there wasn’t enough time for military forces to deploy the night of the attack. “We had the ability to load out, get on birds and fly there, at a minimum stage,” the operator told Fox News. “C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in a matter of about four hours … four to six hours.” The C-110 is a 40-man Special Ops force maintained for rapid response to emergencies – in other words they are trained for deployment for events like the Benghazi attack.

June 13: Politico: Roger Ailes: Why Fox News covers Benghazi:
Fox News chief Roger Ailes on Wednesday slammed the IRS as “arrogant” and said he wants to know what President Barack Obama was doing on the night of the Benghazi attack in his acceptance speech for the 2013 Bradley Prize. Ailes delivered remarks for winning the $250,000 award — he said he would donate the money to a charity for senior citizens — at the Kennedy Center and addressed the IRS scandal, Benghazi and how Fox News covers currents events. According to the speech posted on FoxNews.com, Ailes said the network reported on the deadly attack in Benghazi “even though no other network would touch the story.”
“I have come to the conclusion that even I don’t care what the president of the United States was doing that night,” he said. “However, I would like to know what the commander in chief was doing that night.”

Ailes also called Benghazi “an important story because it involves two hundred years of our military ethos, which is: If we ask you to go out in the middle of the night and risk your life for America, we promise that we will backstop you. And, try to get you out if it is humanly possible. In Benghazi we did not do that.” And the Fox News chair and CEO blasted the IRS as “arrogant” and told his audience the government is “about to hire 16,000 more IRS agents to enforce healthcare” — a number factcheckers such as PolitiFactand Factcheck.org have described as false, however. “Forty-seven new tax increases — no wonder they need guns,” Ailes said. “Now we already know the IRS is arrogant. They waste as much money as the other government agencies. They enjoy pushing people around, and they can’t line dance. We don’t need 16,000 more people who can’t line dance!”

“And we don’t need more people with guns, enforcing our healthcare,” Ailes said, alluding to the agency’s enforcement division. “’All right Granny, get your hands up. It’s the last time we’re telling you. Take your Metamucil!’”

He also told the audience that he believes the United States is “in a storm, the mast is broken, the compass is barely functioning, and there is a big damned hole in the boat!”
“We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by others, many of whom want to impose their culture and laws under the manufactured utopian idea that all cultures are equal and most are better than America’s,” he said, adding that “of course all people should be proud of their heritage” and that “immigrants will always be welcome here.”

“But America is a culture, too,” he said.
Ailes acknowledged the country’s political split, adding it “is hard to figure out if it is ever going to get back together.” But regardless of party, he said, there are a few things every American should agree on.

“Government must reinforce the value of the individual and life,” Ailes said, according to the posted remarks. “Government must have programs to help individual independence flourish and not reinforce dependency. Votes must not be purchased by corrupt organizations or individuals on false missions of mercy. Freedom cannot be compromised anywhere. Anti-Americanism needs to be answered every place, every time. By every one of us.”
And, Ailes added, “you know how I know this is a great country?”

June 12: Fox News: New Poll: The Election kept Obama from taking action in Benghazi:
A new poll shows that a majority of Americans believe President Obama let election-year politics rule his decision not to send help to the Americans under attack at the consulate in Benghazi.  The poll also finds most voters -- 73 percent -- think Congress should continue to investigate the administration’s handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic post there -- this includes 58 percent of Democrats.  

• 56% of voters think Obama did not order U.S. troops to Benghazi because he “didn’t want to risk something going wrong that could cost him the election.”   That’s double the 28 percent who say the president didn’t send help because “he believed nothing could be done to help them.”  Another 16 percent are unsure.
• About a third of Democrats (32 percent) agree with almost all Republicans (86 percent) and nearly half of independents (49 percent) that the election kept Obama from sending troops.  
• Additionally, the majority believe the president (59 percent) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (55 percent) could have done more to help the Americans on the night of the attack.

June 12: YahooNews.com: Military leader disputes diplomat’s take on sending help to U.S. post in Benghazi:
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday that four members of Army special forces in Tripoli were never told to stand down after last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, disputing a former top diplomat's claim that the unit might have helped Americans under siege.  Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said timing and the need for the unit to help with casualties from Benghazi resulted in orders for the special forces to remain in Tripoli. Gregory Hicks, a former diplomat in Tripoli at the time of the attack, told a House panel last month that the unit was told to stand down. Dempsey said that was not the case.

June 11: Townhall.com: America Demands Truth on Benghazi:
On Sept. 11, 2012, four brave American diplomats were killed and 10 other Americans were injured in Benghazi, Libya, by a mob of between 125 and 150 heavily armed Islamists. This jarring event was a grim reminder of the continued threat to America that exists and should have been a wake-up call to the Obama administration about the deadly nature of radical Islam. But here we are now, nine months later, and there still are no answers or explanations from the Obama administration about what exactly happened, why it happened and what those in charge knew while it was happening. It's time for answers, and it's time for our commander in chief to stop stonewalling. Americans need and deserve to know the truth.

June 10: Politico: Chairman Issa: Department of State has submitted some Benghazi documents:
The State Department has turned over some documents in response to a subpoena from Rep. Darrell Issa seeking more information about changed talking points after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. “Committee investigators are reviewing the documents to assess the completeness of the delivery,” Frederick Hill, spokesman for Issa, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in an e-mail. The documents were turned over late Friday, the deadline for compliance.

Last month, Issa had requested State turn over documents from ten current and former State employees not included in a previous round of disclosure. Republicans claim the documents could provide more details into how and why the talking points were changed. At issue are charges that the White House stripped the talking points — which U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used in appearances on Sunday shows the weekend after the attacks.  In response to the subpoena, the White House turned over 100 pages of emails in May and argued those emails show it was CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell — not State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland — who first suggested removing terrorism references from the talking points.

Given the subject of the subpoena, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the ranking member of the committee, called the requests politically charged and an attempt to smear former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [The Administration official who asked House Foreign Affairs if it really matters at this point whether Americans died in the Benghazi Attack!].

June 10: Fox News: Benghazi is the blank spot on the Obama presidency
On “Fox News Sunday” recently, White House aide Dan Pfeiffer was asked about President Barack Obama’s whereabouts the night of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi. This was the night when we lost our first ambassador in 30 years, and when three other Americans were killed in an attack lasting for hours at multiple locations. Since the president is commander in chief, one would think that where he was and what he did during such an event would be of obvious public concern. Not according to Pfeiffer. He deemed the president’s location, and specifically whether he was in the Situation Room, “a largely irrelevant fact.” If it is so unimportant, why not simply tell us? It’s not as if we haven’t heard largely irrelevant information before.

Obama’s actions and non-actions on that terrible night are a blank spot in his presidency. We simply don’t know much about them, and the White House has always been perfectly content to leave it that way. We know he was meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey at 5 p.m. Washington time, when he learned of the attack. In congressional testimony, Panetta said he had no contact with the president or the White House after that point. Dempsey said he didn’t hear from the president, either.   We know that the president talked to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 10 p.m., when the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department computer expert Sean Smith was over but the mortar attack that killed two former US Navy SEALs at another facility hadn’t yet taken place.

June 10: The Washington Times: Senator Paul demands answers on possible U.S. gunrunning in Benghazi:
Rand Paul (R-KY) suspects the U.S. was secretly running guns through the consulate in Benghazi to arm Syrian rebels. The Kentucky Republican said the Obama Administration must provide answers about whether firearms trafficking through Libya was related to the terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Stevens. “We need to ask a lot of people in the administration,  including Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton and others: Were we shipping arms to Turkey? And, was that why the ambassador was there in Benghazi? And why the CIA annex was there?” Paul said Sunday in an interview with Fox News.  Paul said “I had a conversation with another congressman today who said that he asked someone within the leadership of  Congress whether or not arms were being exchanged in Benghazi, and the response he got was, ‘That was classified.’”

June 6: Politico: Benghazi Mom: Susan Rice is a “liar”
Unhappy with President Barack Obama’s selection of Susan Rice as National Security Adviser, the mother of one the Americans killed in the Benghazi attack is calling Rice a “proven liar.” Pat Smith, whose son, Sean Smith, was an information management officer at the diplomatic facility told Sean Hannity on his show on Fox News on Wednesday that the choice of Rice was “curious.” ”I don’t understand why Obama would want a proven liar to be his security adviser. That makes no sense to me at all,” Smith said. Hannity asked Smith what she would like to say to Obama. “I would like to say, ‘Please, just listen to the American people. Don’t listen to whoever it is that’s advising you. I don’t know who’s advising you, I don’t know who you’re listening to, but it’s wrong. It’s very wrong. And it won’t help.’”

June 5: APNews: National Security Advisor Resigns; Rice to replace him:
President Barack Obama's top national security adviser Tom Donilon is resigning effective July and will be replaced by U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, marking a significant shakeup to the White House foreign policy team.  Donilon has been a key foreign policy adviser to Obama since he first took office. But the 58-year-old had been expected to depart sometime this year.  The Rice appointment does not require Senate approval.  Obama considered nominating Rice as his second-term secretary of state, but she withdrew amid the GOP criticism over the Benghazi talking points and a general lack of confidence in her, saying she didn't want her confirmation fight to be a distraction for the White House.

June 5: Real Clear Politics:
Carville: Obama’s Choice of Susan Rice for National Security Advisor is an “In Your Face Appointment” [Video]
James Carville: "My guess is that he wanted her to be Secretary of State and he felt like she kind of got railroaded there and this is kind of in your face appointment, but he obviously thinks a great deal of Ambassador Rice. Like I say, he wanted her to be Secretary of State. She's not confirmable and it's like a message that he's going to stick by. He views her as a competent person and probably as a friend of his. You know, I think it's an in your face appointment and he feels good about making it."

June 4: Politico: Pickering Testifies Behind Closed Doors:
Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering gave a lengthy, closed-door deposition on Tuesday, saying he considered his role heading the Benghazi investigation “a debt of honor in memory of Ambassador Stevens who he knew very well,” according to one attendee. Pickering testified for more than three hours, fielding questions from lawmakers and staff in both parties on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

“It’s good to have the dialogue. It’s disappointing that you had to use a subpoena to get him here,” said Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who has been leading the charge on Benghazi.
Chaffetz said there were still “a lot more questions. We still have the State Department giving us the stiff arm on giving us documents and information. It’s unfortunate that you have to get a subpoena to get someone here to share their perspective. But that’s the way they are playing it.”

At the root of Pickering’s testimony is the investigation he conducted for the Accountability Review Board. During testimony last month from State Department official Gregory Hicks, who was running the embassy in Tripoli at the time, Republicans raised questions about the ARB report. Hicks charged that the report was flawed because he was not able to review his testimony to the review board and because he was not permitted to read a classified copy. Republicans on the committee also charged that the proper officials hadn’t been interviewed and no blame had been laid at the highest levels. Hicks’s criticism was joined by others testifying, including State Department employees Mark Thompson and Eric Nordstrom.

May 29: A Report from Breitbart.Com: Blame the President for Benghazi:
When the American mission in Benghazi, Libya was attacked on September 11th, 2012, only one person had the positional authority, legal mandate, and communications apparatus to give the order to defend our personnel on the ground: the President of the United States. The President did not give that order, and four Americans died in Benghazi that day. All the rest of the nonsense to which we have been treated–from prepared talking points, congressional hearings, and finally to the outright lies–matter not when compared to the ignominious moments in which the President of the United States refused to do his job.

That same day, two other American embassies in the Middle East were also under attack in Sana, Yemen and Cairo, Egypt. As a result, our intelligence systems were on high alert. When the calls, satellite and drone feeds, faxes, and reports began bombarding every command center from Germany to the United States, our nation, already at war for eleven years, was again under siege. Staffs from Africa Command, European Command, the National Military Command Center, the CIA Operations Center, the State Department Operations Center, and the White House Situation Room were fully operational. This all means that on September 11, 2012, our national security apparatus was on full alert. It means everyone was briefed. This is how it works; no games, no conjecture, no television and movie looks, just real battle in real time with real lives at risk.

The road to that indecision is littered with policy and leadership failures that culminated in an American mission and clandestine CIA base being attacked and the murder of our Ambassador and three dedicated Americans doing their jobs. However, the one person responsible for it all is the one man who could have, but refused to, even try to stop the carnage... the President of the United States. All the President had to say within the first two hours while being briefed by the Secretary of Defense was, “Send in a response force.” This command, followed by his signature on a paper called Cross Border Authority, would have ordered the Department of Defense to do everything and anything to save lives in Benghazi, Libya. On September 11, 2012, and we have a desperate situation with Americans in jeopardy. The President, instead of deciding how to respond, disappeared for the evening  and then went to Las Vegas the following day to raise money for his re-election campaign.

June 4: The Blaze: Al-Qaeda Terrorist Claims Ambassador Stevens Given a Lethal Injection after Kidnapping Went Bad:
A “weapons expert” with al-Qaeda is claiming that slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed by lethal injection after plans to kidnap him during the deadly Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi went awry. “The veracity of the claim by Abdallah Dhu-al-Bajadin, who was identified by U.S. officials as a weapons expert for al-Qaeda, could not be determined. However, U.S. officials have not dismissed the terrorist’s assertion.” FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright declined to comment on — but did not deny — the report due to the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the Benghazi attacks. “The FBI is not in a position to comment on anything specific with regard to the investigation,” she said.

A report by the State Department Accountability Review Board and an interim House report provided no cause of death for Stevens. The ambassador’s body was recovered by Libyans in the early hours of Sept. 12, 2012. As of this writing, no official cause of death for Stevens has been released to the public. However, it was reported that a Libyan doctor who examined him said he died from apparent smoke inhalation and related asphyxiation.

May 29: CNN Politics: Lawmakers Demand More Details About Benghazi:
House Republicans continued to demand answers Wednesday on the Benghazi attack, one day after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a congressional subpoena to current and former State Department officials over the issue. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, 15 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee demanded to know what actions were taken against four people Kerry had testified would face consequences for failing to protect Chris Stevens, the ambassador to Libya, and others at the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

Kerry, who testified before the House panel in April, had promised to weigh in on actions taken against those who were documented as allowing what lawmakers called "the grossly inadequate security at the diplomatic facility in Benghazi last year." "Now that over one month has passed since your testimony," the House lawmakers wrote, "we expect an immediate update on this process." The letter was signed by Rep. Ed Royce, R-CA, the chairman of the committee, and 14 other Republicans.

May 29: InfoWars.com: House investigator subpoenas all communications on Benghazi:
House Republicans’ chief investigator issued a subpoena Tuesday for State Department documents that he said would shed light on how the administration wrote the “talking points” that were used to give a wrong impression of the September terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa told Secretary of State John F. Kerry to provide all communications regarding the talking points from 10 department officials, including Victoria Nuland, who was chief spokeswoman at the time, and Deputy Secretary William Burns. “The State Department has not lived up to the administration’s broad and unambiguous promises of cooperation with Congress,” Mr. Issa said in a letter to Mr. Kerry that accompanied the subpoena.

May 26: The Hill: Democrats prepare game plan as House investigates Benghazi:
Democrats vow they won't be caught flat-footed when the co-author of the State Department's independent audit on Benghazi appears for a closed-door interview with congressional investigators next month. Retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering has agreed to be deposed by Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) Oversight panel on June 3 after being threatened with a subpoena. Democrats say they're wary of a trap, and want to be able to counter what they say is Issa's habit of leaking “cherry-picked” portions of witnesses' testimonies to the press.

Republicans on the committee say Democrats will be allowed to sit in on the deposition, just like they have for other formal interviews. Democrats say that hasn't stopped Issa from leaking a constant drip-drip of damaging allegations about Benghazi over the past few weeks. These include the revelation that the Obama administration ordered a special forces team in Tripoli to stand down before the attack was over.

Republicans have faulted Pickering and his Accountability Review Board for not interviewing then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for last year's report into the terrorist attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The report instead pointed the finger at lower-level managers for security lapses at the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Democrats say Pickering and his co-author, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen, should be able to defend their report in a public hearing. Pickering could not be reached for comment.

May 24: WhiteHouseDossier.com: Obama gives state department talking points editor a promotion:
The  State Department spokeswoman who played a pivotal role in deleting portions of the Benghazi talking points has been tapped by President Obama for a plum new post, bagging a nomination to become assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. Nuland is a career foreign service officer who had held many high-level positions, including under George W. Bush. But her nomination to handle the European portfolio will likely be seen by Republicans as an example of the president flipping the bird their way. Senate confirmation in the current environment would seem unlikely, at best.

During the process of whittling the original CIA talking points down, a reference to participation in the Benghazi attack by al Qaeda-linked elements was deleted. Nuland had expressed “serious concerns” about mentioning the terrorists. And she also asserted that including references to previous attacks against foreigners in Benghazi “could be abused by members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings.”
Nuland was particularly aggressive, pursuing the matter until the concerns of her superiors were satisfied.

May 23: The Weekly Standard:
Benghazi Investigation Deepens: Issa’s Committee seeks interviews with 13 officials involved:
As the investigation into the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi intensifies, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are seeking to conduct transcribed interviews with thirteen top State Department officials in the coming weeks in order to learn more. Those named in the letter include a wide range of current and former State Department personnel, from senior advisers to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to mid-level career officials with responsibility for diplomatic security.

Among those officials: Jacob Sullivan, then deputy chief of staff and director of policy planning (and currently national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden); Victoria Nuland, then State Department spokesman; Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary of state for near east affairs; Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management; and Eric Boswell, former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security. Chairman Issa wrote Secretary of State John Kerry to request formally that Kerry make these current and former State Department employees available. He also reminded Kerry of his recent promise to run “an accountable and open State Department,” but noted that State’s “posture with respect to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attacks has not lived up to your commitment to ‘provide answers.’” The State Department, Issa wrote, “continues to limit the Committee’s access to relevant documents and witnesses.” The transcribed interviews are likely a first step towards requesting—or demanding—congressional testimony for several of those listed.

May 23: The Hill: Issa’s panel inching closer to calling Hillary Clinton to testify about Benghazi:
Members of the House Oversight Committee are getting closer to asking Hillary Clinton to testify on last year's deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya.  Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) told The Hill that there are “a number of steps” that the panel “will take first” before calling the former secretary of State to the hearing room, but he left the door open to compelling her appearance. “We have a number of steps that we are taking to get full and complete discovery,” Issa said. He added that the committee members don’t want to “waste the former secretary’s time” by calling her before they do their full duty in uncovering all the relevant information that could shed light on her role before, during and after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Libya.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), has said that the panel is also interested in talking with former CIA Director David Petraeus about the CIA’s intelligence on the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stephens and three other Americans. The Washington Postreported that Petraeus had wanted the talking points released after the Libya attack to include references to previous CIA warnings about threats in Benghazi. Those warnings were edited out during an inter agency process that included the State Department. Clinton has appeared before several congressional committees to discuss the Benghazi attacks, but has not yet been called before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Earlier this month, Issa's panel heard from Gregory Hicks whose testimony contradicted claims made by Clinton and other Obama administration officials and attracted front-page headlines. Under Issa’s leadership, and with the help of Chaffetz and former prosecutor Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the Oversight committee has taken a methodical approach to the Benghazi investigation. Gowdy has played a key role in preparing the GOP committee members to ask direct, focused questions and avoid rushing to judgment before the facts have been established, according to sources familiar with the committee’s hearing prep.
[This article is extensive and worth reading. In order to keep things shorter we suggest you follow this link to the entire story]

May 22: The Hill: Issa lifts subpoena after Pickering agrees to be deposed:
Rep. Darrell Issa and Ambassador Thomas Pickering have reached a deal that will allow the diplomat to appear for a closed-door meeting with investigators for the congressman.  The agreement led Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to lift his subpoena on Pickering, who  who co-authored the State Department's independent report on the Benghazi attack. 

Republicans said last year's Accountability Review Board (ARB) failed to interview then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and allowed higher-ups in the department to escape blame. Issa subpoenaed Pickering after he refused to appear for a closed-door, recorded deposition with Issa's staff. Pickering said he preferring to testify at an open hearing. Issa's committee have repeatedly asked for the ARB and the State Department to release the list of witnesses the board spoke to as well as the notes taken during their depositions. The interviews were not recorded or transcribed.

May 21: National Review: Issa Warns Hillary (If she is called to testify again, she’d better be ready!)
Since Hillary Clinton last came up to Capitol Hill, we’ve learned senior State Department officials sought to scrub references to terrorism from the infamous Benghazi talking points to insulate Foggy Bottom from political criticism — citing concerns of their "building’s leadership” to justify the demands.  The rising temperature of the scandal means it’s possible that Hillary could be asked to return and testify again.

If she comes back, she had better be prepared, says House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa.  “We are interviewing lots of people, most of them under oath,” Issa says, describing the “methodical” approach his committee has been using for months. “… if we bring Secretary Clinton back, we bring her back when we have a lot of questions, including who told her what, or, more importantly, who didn’t tell her something, and why” Issa said.
Generally speaking, the chairmanship of the oversight committee is a job that holds a lot more appeal when it’s the other party’s guy in the White House. Issa has held the coveted position for over two years, but it’s only now that Obama-administration scandals have truly consumed Washington.

May 21: PJMedia.com:
Ex-Diplomats Report new Benghazi whistleblowers with info that is devastating to Clinton and Obama:
More whistleblowers will emerge shortly in the escalating Benghazi scandal, according to two former U.S. diplomats who spoke with PJ Media Monday afternoon.  These whistleblowers, colleagues of the former diplomats, are currently securing legal counsel because they work in areas not fully protected by the Whistleblower law.  According to the diplomats, what these whistleblowers will say will be at least as explosive as what we have already learned about the scandal, including details about what really transpired in Benghazi that are potentially devastating to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel.  Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.  Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”  This left Stevens in the position of having to clean up the scandalous enterprise when it became clear that the “insurgents” actually were al-Qaeda – indeed, in the view of one of the diplomats, the same group that attacked the consulate and ended up killing Stevens.

May 21: BreitBart.com: FBI Identifies Five Benghazi Suspects – No Arrests Yet:
U.S. officials say they have identified five men they believe might be behind the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year. The officials say they have enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists but not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers.  So the officials say the men remain at large while the FBI gathers more evidence. The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House's aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and toward trying them as criminals in a civilian justice system. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive briefings publicly

May 19: The Hill: McConnell: White House “made up a tale” about Benghazi
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press that was held by an anchorman who attempted to lead Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) into a mine field, the Minority Leader refused to bite!  McConnell did say the Obama administration had spun a “tale” about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi that helped them politically before the 2012 election. “It’s very clear that it was inconvenient within six weeks of the election for the administration to, in effect, announce that it was a terrorist attack. I think that’s worth examining. It is going to be examined,” he vowed.

May 19: Politico:  Chaffetz: Benghazi cover-up ongoing:
Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the White House should release more documents relating to the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The Utah Republican said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that more information is needed and that a cover-up is ongoing. "People deserve the truth and the families deserve the truth," Chaffetz said. "I can't imagine that this administration would say those same things about what happened in Boston where we had four people killed by a terrorist." Chaffetz said that the cover-up has delayed investigating and tracking down who committed the attacks."We weren't able to investigate," he said. "We still have terrorists that committed these attacks that are out there. They are on the loose. We don't know where they are."

May 19: The Daily Caller: Rand Paul likens Benghazi errors’ that led to “Black Hawk Down”
On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took aim at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the State Department’s handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Last week, Paul had given a speech in the early presidential battleground state of Iowa that was highly critical of Clinton. “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley asked Paul if he stuck by those remarks, to which the Kentucky Republican said he did and likened Benghazi to an incident that occurred during her husband’s first term. “I absolutely stick by them,” Paul said. “You know, in Bill Clinton’s administration, when Les Aspin did not provide security in Mogadishu, the famous Black Hawk Down, he was asked to resign, and he left and admitted he made tragic errors.”

May 19: The Daily Caller: White House aide: Obama’s whereabouts night of Benghazi attack is largely irrelevant.
On Sunday, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer made the talk show rounds in the wake of three scandals involving the Obama administration, but seemed to have the same message: that the details were “irrelevant” and Obama wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“The president was kept up to date on this as it was happening throughout the entire night, from the moment it started till the end,” Pfeiffer said. “This is a horrible tragedy. These are people that he sent abroad whose lives are in risk,  people who work for him. And I recognize that there’s a series of conspiracy theories the Republicans have been spinning about this since the night it happened, but there’s been an independent review of this. Congress has held hearings on this. We provided 250,000 pages of — 250,000 pages of documents up there. There’s been 11 hearings, 20 staff briefings. And everyone has found the same thing.”

Here is a transcript of the interview with Mike Wallace:

WALLACE: With all due respect, you didn’t answer my question. What did the president do that night?
PFEIFFER:  He was in constant touch with his national security team and kept up to date with the events as they were happening.
WALLACE: When you say his national security team, he didn’t talk to the secretary of state except for the one time when the first attack was over. He didn’t talk to the secretary of defense, he didn’t talk to the chairman of the joint — who was he talking to?
PFEIFFER:  He was talking to his national security staff, his national security council — people who would keep him up to date as these things were happening.
WALLACE: Was he in the situation room?
PFEIFFER:  He was kept up to date throughout the day.
WALLACE: Do you not know whether he was in the situation room?
PFEIFFER:  I don’t remember what room he was in that night. That’s a largely irrelevant fact.
WALLACE: Well —
PFEIFFER:  The premise of your question is that somehow there was something that could have been done differently, OK, that would have changed the outcome here. The accountability review board has looked at this, people have looked at this. It’s a horrible tragedy what happened, and we have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

May 17: Fox News: Issa subpoenas Pickering on Benghazi:
Chairman Issa said This Administration is good at going beyond its authority, bad at getting legislation passed, and the Americans are the losers! We need to know how are we going to keep our people safe and what are we going to do to respond quickly if this every happens again,' he exclaimed.

Issa's committee has subpoenaed the co-chairman of the Obama administration's internal review board for the Benghazi attack -- escalating his own inquiry amid a report that showed administration officials expressing regret about their response the night of Sept. 11.  Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA, announced Friday that he issued the subpoena to retired veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering to force him to appear at a deposition next week. Pickering, who co-chaired the Benghazi Accountability Review Board with a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chief Mike Mullen, has offered to testify before Issa's committee in public. But Issa said a closed-door meeting is needed first in order for the committee to fully understand how the review board conducted its investigation. "The ARB worked behind closed doors," Issa wrote. "It did not record its interviews. No transcripts of ARB interviews exist. Even now, months after the ARB report was released, the ARB's investigative process has remained opaque." 

May 17: Fox News: Benghazi emails reveal Obama White House’s obsession with spin control
When it dumped 100 emails related to the Benghazi talking points Wednesday night, the Obama White House showed it hasn’t been telling the truth.   These talking points were not the sole product of the intelligence community, but were in fact edited by State Department officials and White House officials and then decided upon at a White House meeting.   After reading these emails, it’s clear the administration’s principal concern behind the edits was to protect itself from public and Congressional criticism, not to get out the facts of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in which four Americans died.

But the emails also leave unanswered important questions, while offering tantalizing clues and suggestions.  First, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was pushing to water down the CIA-drafted talking points. But she’s not the person in charge at State.  At 9:24 PM Friday, September 14, she complained that the edits made so far “don't resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership. They are consulting with NSS.”  NSS could stand for National Security Staff, i.e., the White House.

May 16: ABC News: The Benghazi Emails: Talking Points Changed at State Dept.'s Request:After months of demands from Republicans in Congress, the White House has released emails related to what the administration said in the days after the terrorist attack in Benghazi. The emails confirm the ABC News report that the so-called "talking points" written by the CIA on the attack underwent extensive revisions – 12 versions – and that substantial changes were made after the State Department expressed concerns. The early versions of the talking points, drafted entirely by the CIA, included references to the al Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Sharia and to previous CIA warnings about terror threats in Benghazi. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland expressed concerns about including those references in the talking points.

In one email, previously reported by ABC News, Nuland said that including the CIA warnings "could be used by Members [of Congress] to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings so why do we want to feed that? Concerned …" After some changes were made, Nuland was still not satisfied. "These don't resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership," Nuland wrote.

May 15: Fox News: Benghazi emails show State Department had heavy hand in watering down account of attack
State Department officials repeatedly objected to -- and tried to water down -- references to Islamic extremist groups and prior security warnings in the administration's initial internal story-line on the Benghazi attack, according to dozens of emails and notes released by the White House late Wednesday.  The documents also showed the White House, along with several other departments, played a role in editing the so-called "talking points," despite claims from the White House that it was barely involved. And they showed then-CIA Director David Petraeus objected to the watered-down version that would ultimately be used as the basis for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's flawed comments on several TV shows the Sunday after the attack. 

"Frankly, I'd just as soon not use this," Petraeus told his deputy in a Sept. 15 email.
 The documents were released under pressure after whistle-blowers testified on the Hill and some email excerpts leaked to the media last week. The 100-page file showed that State Department officials were even more heavily involved in editing the "talking points" than was previously known. One email sent the Friday night after the attack from an unknown official said: "The State Department had major reservations with much or most of the document." 
Individual emails leading up to that assessment show State officials repeatedly objecting to the intelligence community's early version of events. 

May 15: The Hill: White House releases Benghazi emails
The White House on Wednesday released more than 100 pages of inter-agency emails intended to bolster its argument it did not try to hide the fact that last year’s attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was terrorism. The messages — circulated Sept. 14-15 — show that CIA Deputy Director Mike Morrell asked that references to al Qaeda and another terrorist groups be removed from official administration talking points hours before State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland made a similar request. One page of talking points dated Sept. 14 includes handwritten notes by Morrell, who scratches out parts of the talking points that say that there were “indications that Islamic extremists participated in the violent demonstrations,” and also that there were “at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British ambassador’s convoy.”

May 15: National Review: Republicans Not Willing to Take Impeachment Off the Table for Benghazi:
“I would say yes — I’m not willing to take it off to take it off the table,” representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said about the possibility of seeking the president’s impeachment in the Benghazi scandal. “Look, it’s not something I’m seeking, it’s not the endgame, it’s not what we’re playing for,” Chaffetz explained in an interview with CNN. “I was simply asked if that’s within the realm of possibilities.” Earlier this week, Chaffetz told the Salt Lake Tribune that impeachment is “certainly a possibility,” which drew attention but added, “that’s not the goal.”

May 13: The Salt Lake Tribune: Impeachment is not off the table:
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) says President Barack Obama’s handling of the government’s response to the Benghazi terrorist attack could be an impeachable offense and vows to continue digging at the "lies of highest magnitude" from the White House. "It’s certainly a possibility," the Utah Republican said Monday when asked about impeachment. "That’s not the goal but given the continued lies perpetrated by this administration, I don’t know where it’s going to go. ... I’m not taking it off the table. I’m not out there touting that but I think this gets to the highest levels of our government and integrity and honesty are paramount."

Chaffetz has been leading the charge in investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi where four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed. But he’s not alone in raising the idea of impeachment as a possible outcome of the probe. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said last week impeachment was possible over the "most egregious cover-up in American history.

May 12: Fox News: Republicans call for depositions in Benghazi probe, amid revelation Clinton barely interviewed:
Congressional Republicans on Sunday pressed their investigation into the Benghazi attacks, suggesting depositions for high-ranking officials and more whistle-blowers testifying amid further questions about why then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not thoroughly interviewed about the issue.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told “Fox News Sunday” that more potential and self-proclaimed “whistle-blowers” might come forward after three of them – career State Department foreign service employees – testified last week before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. “We have had people come forward because of the (hearing) and say we would also like to talk," the Michigan Republican told Fox. "I do think we're going to see more whistle-blowers. Certainly my committee has been contacted; I think other committees as well." Rogers’ remarks came as Thomas Pickering, the former U.S. ambassador who helped write a report on security at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, defended his assessment but absolved Clinton.

May 12: BreitBart.Com:  Report: NBC Spiked Story ID’ing Benghazi whistle-blower as Obama/Clinton Voter:
Victoria Toensing, attorney for Benghazi whistle-blower Gregory Hicks, says Hicks is a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries, and President Obama twice for President. Toensing also said that NBC News "spiked" the story this week, prior to Hicks' dramatic testimony before Congress.  Toensing, Hicks’ attorney told WMAL-FM in Washington ...It’s just amazing what the press is still trying to do to cover this up. So they try to make this partisan because of the lawyer. Well I’m not the messenger, he’s the messenger! The modus operandi is to find anything they can do to just attack.”

May 12: The Hill: McCain Calls Benghazi a “Cover-Up”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Sunday the Obama administration engaged in a "cover-up" after the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. "I’d call it a cover-up," McCain said on ABC’s “This Week.” "I would call it a cover-up in the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious. It was obvious." Three current and former State officials testified before Congress last week, and said they knew the attack was terrorism even as the administration was describing it as a spontaneous protest.

ABC News reported this week that talking points about the attacks were edited to remove references to terrorism. Republicans have accused the White House of downplaying the attacks in the midst of Obama's reelection campaign. McCain said a select committee should be convened to investigate Benghazi — and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should be called back to Capitol Hill to testify. But he split with other GOP senators who have suggested that the administration’s handling of the incident could rise to the level of impeachment.

May 11: The Hill: Rand Paul: Hillary Clinton does not deserve higher office due to Benghazi:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi should "preclude her from holding higher office," according to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky). Paul told a crowd of supporters in Iowa on Friday that any presidential ambitions Clinton might have in 2016 should be stymied by the administration's response to the Libya attack. "First question to Hillary Clinton: Where in the hell were the Marines?" he said, according to NBC News. "It was inexcusable, it was a dereliction of duty, and it should preclude her from holding higher office."

The administration has come under heavy criticism from Republicans for how it handled the attack. In particular, Republicans have questioned whether the administration provided enough security and support to the embassy, and also how the attack was initially characterized afterwards.

May 11: The Daily Caller: President of CBS News – may drop reporter over Benghazi coverage:
The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration’s scandals too aggressively. CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year. “Network sources” told Politico that CBS executives feel Attkisson’s Benghazi coverage is bordering on advocacy, and Attkisson “can’t get some of her stories on the air.”

May 11: The Daily Caller: Pat Smith to Hillary Clinton – You have your child this Mother’s Day, I don’t because of you!
On Saturday’s episode of Fox News Channel’s “Huckabee,” Pat Smith, mother of Sean Smith, an information management officer killed in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi, expressed her frustration with the Obama administration for not being more forthcoming about what happened in that attack.

But first Smith had some words for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Mother’s Day. “I’m still waiting for answers to just about everything,” Smith said. “I do want to say just one thing, though. I want to wish Hillary [Clinton] a happy Mother’s Day. She’s got her child. I don’t have mine because of her.”

May 10: The New Yorker: Press Coverage on Benghazi Turning?
It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a cover-up. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a cover-up was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.

On Friday, ABC News’s Jonathan Karl revealed the details of the editing process for the C.I.A.’s talking points about the attack, including the edits themselves and some of the reasons a State Department spokeswoman gave for requesting those edits. It’s striking to see the 12 different iterations that the talking points went through before they were released to Congress and to United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, who used them in Sunday show appearances that became a central focus of Republicans’ criticism of the Administration’s public response to the attacks. Over the course of about twenty-four hours, the remarks evolved from something specific and fairly detailed into a bland, vague mush.

May 9: Fox News: Political Motives Don't Change Facts in Benghazi Probe:
“I think at about 2:00 p.m. the, 2:00 a.m., sorry, Secretary of State Clinton called me and along with her senior staff were all on the phone. And she asked me what was going on, and I briefed her on developments.”
-- Gregory Hicks, former deputy mission chief in Libya, testifying before the House Oversight Committee.

Democrats and many in the press are shrugging off the revelations in a hearing on the Islamist militant attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as Republicans “playing politics.” Defenders of all the administrations reviled the accusers as political hacks, but that didn’t mean that what they found wasn’t true. Reagan shipped arms to the Contras and the Hillary Clinton developed a sudden, temporary and lucrative interest in trading cattle futures. Those revelations were helpful to the party out of power, but that didn’t make them untrue. We are right to question the motives of anyone making an allegation, and therefore their account of events, but that doesn’t change the facts.

One of the most fascinating facts revealed in Wednesday’s House hearing on Benghazi is that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was up to speed on the attacks in pretty much real time. She had her 2 am phone call after all. And it seems not to have gone so well. Clinton stood in front of the caskets of the slain Americans two days later and spoke of “rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful Internet video that we had nothing to do with,” but during the attack itself she was getting a briefing on events – events that had nothing to do with, as she said casket-side,  “the tyranny of the mob.”

So why did she say that? Perhaps intelligence contradicted what she had been told by her team in Libya, only to be contradicted again. How does that stack up to the Republican’s claim that Clinton was covering herself and President Obama? Add in the fact that Greg Hicks, the one who was briefing Clinton and begging her to send reinforcements and relief to the doomed garrison, says he soon found himself in hot water with Sheryl Mills, Clinton’s top aide. Hicks said Mills was “very upset” with him for talking with congressional investigators about events. Hicks soon found himself demoted.

Hicks’ testimony was that Clinton knew of the nature of the attack in real time, declined an effort to try to provide aid and then, standing before the bodies of those killed, falsely blamed a Web video for mob violence. It begins to seem that the first political motivation at play here was that of Clinton and Obama not wanting to look like they got caught napping on the 9/11 anniversary.

May 9: The Daily Caller: Clinton Hit by GOP Questions on Benghazi: 
Republicans are hoping that a renewed focus on the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks could dim Hillary Clinton’s presidential prospects in 2016. America Rising, the opposition research group founded by former RNC and Mitt Romney staffers, went up with a new web ad Thursday juxtaposing Clinton’s testimony before the Senate and House on Benghazi last year with the testimony given by whistle-blowers who testified before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Wednesday’s testimony suggested that the administration botched the handling of the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi last year, both in terms of providing additional security forces before and during the attack, and explaining what happened afterward. The ad shows some of the more damaging testimony from Clinton, including her saying that, as head of the State Department at the time, she takes responsibility for what happened on September 11, 2012.

May 9: Fox News: House Speaker puts pressure on Obama to provide email documents on Benghazi:
Pressure on the Obama administration to release more information about the Benghazi attack grew Thursday, as House Speaker John Boehner demanded officials turn over emails pertaining to the controversial "talking points" and another top Republican appealed for more whistle-blowers to come forward.  On the heels of a dramatic hearing where three whistle-blowers testified, Fox News has learned that former Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday, told lawmakers: "I think Hillary (Clinton) should be subpoenaed if necessary." 

The comments and developments signal that Republicans will continue to press for answers on the deadly Sept. 11 attack. Despite arguments from Democrats that the hearing was not nearly as shocking as Republicans made it out to be, GOP lawmakers said it raised troubling questions that need to be investigated.  "The truth shouldn't be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall," Boehner said Thursday. "Four Americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal."  Boehner specifically urged the Obama administration to make public a set of internal emails that some lawmakers had been able to review but not keep. 
One of the emails apparently showed a top State Department official saying a group affiliated with Islamic terrorists was responsible for the strike. Separate emails, though, allegedly depict the White House and State Department pressing lower-level officials to remove references to terrorism in talking points about the attacks. 

May 9:  The Hill: Sen. Coburn: ‘Glaring omission’ in Benghazi information from State Dept.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) on Thursday warned that congressional hearings into Benghazi could create “real trouble” for the State Department and said there was a “glaring omission” in the information provided to lawmakers about the administration’s response to the deadly attack.
"I think the State Department has real trouble," Coburn said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” and suggested there was another shoe waiting to drop. "Having sat on the Intelligence Committee and having seen the review of emails that went back and forth that developed the list, there's a glaring problem there that will eventually come out, and I can't talk about it now, but there was an omission that was given to the Intelligence Committee,” he said.

Coburn was pressed by the show's hosts to provide more details or clarification about the alleged "omission," but repeatedly deferred."I cannot do that and keep my (security) obligations... other than to say that I think there was a glaring omission in terms of what was submitted to the Intelligence Committee," he said.

Coburn’s comments come as Congress renews its investigation into the administration's handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi.
In congressional testimony Thursday, a trio of State Department employees said they were frustrated and disappointed in the State Department's response to the attack, which left four Americans – including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens – dead.  The hearing also raised new questions about whether the U.S. military could have intervened, and over the initial talking points that blamed the attack on spontaneous violence and not on a pre-planned terrorist assault.

May 8: The Washington Times: Latest on Benghazi: Whistle blowers Testify Before Congress:
Democrats Wednesday pooh-poohed charges of a cover-up of the Benghazi terror attacks last year, saying charges from Republican lawmakers and State Department employees were overblown and had been answered. “I don’t think there’s a smoking gun here today,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, Wisconsin Democrat, “not even a lukewarm slingshot.” Pocan is a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which held a hearing Wednesday to take testimony from State Department officials, including one who was one the ground in Libya during the attack, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. While Republicans on the panel raised questions about the Obama administration’s handling of the attack and its aftermath, many Democrats in their questions rushed to the administration’s defense.

May 8: The Hill: Official holds back tears during emotional Benghazi testimony:
The State Department’s deputy chief of mission in Libya fought back tears on Wednesday as he delivered a lengthy account of the nighttime terrorist attacks last year that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The first-hand account is the first the Oversight Committee has heard publicly from a witness during its investigation of possible security and intelligence failures in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
 
Testifying before a packed hearing room, Gregory Hicks gave an emotional account of his attempt to secure the State Department’s staff in Tripoli as he relayed messages to the Washington, D.C., operation center in real-time about reports of attackers storming the Benghazi facility. It began with two missed phone calls from Stevens, said Hicks, who promptly called him back. “Greg, we’re under attack,” Hicks said he remembers Stevens telling him on the phone in his last moments before the connection was lost.   Hicks said he immediately called his senior contacts in the Libyan government and asked them for help in defending the compound.  

“Over that night … I was talking with the government of Libya, reporting to the State Department through the operation’s center and also staying in touch with the annex chief about what was going on,” he said.

May 8: Fox News: Whistle-blower: Botched talking points hurt the FBI probe of Benghazi attack:
A key Benghazi whistle-blower, responding to Democratic claims that the prolonged scrutiny over the administration's botched talking points is unwarranted, testified Wednesday that the early mischaracterization of the attack may have actually hurt the FBI's investigation. "I definitely believe that it negatively affected our ability to get the FBI team quickly to Benghazi," said Greg Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya who became the top U.S. diplomat in the country after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed.

He claimed the Libyan president was angered by the mischaracterization, in turn slowing the U.S. probe.  The claim was one of several new accounts given at Wednesday's high-profile hearing where three whistle-blowers testified.  Democrats, while giving deference to the officials and their version of events, used the hearing to try and deflect criticism away from the administration. In particular, they rejected the notion that early talking points on the attack were deliberately changed, to downplay terrorism, for political reasons. 

May 8: Real Clear Politics:  Democrat Congressman At Benghazi Hearing says: “Death Is A Part of Life”
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, tells Benghazi witnesses that "death is a part of life." Cummings said "As I listen to your testimony I could not help but think of something that I said very recently -- two years ago now -- in a eulogy for a relative. I said that death is a part of life, so often we have to find a way to make life a part of death. And, I guess the reason why I'm saying that, going back to something Mr. Nordstrom said, he wanted, I guess all of you said this, he wanted to make sure we learn from this.

May 8: The Weekly Standard:  Democrat Congressman Blames Budget Cuts for Benghazi Attack:
Democratic congressman William Lacy Clay of Missouri blamed congressional budget cuts for the terror attack on Americans in Benghazi (Video).

May 8 (a.m.): CBS News:  Benghazi “Whistle blowers” Head to the House Committee:
Hoping to funnel into one chronological timeline the rampantly varying accounts of how President Obama's administration responded last Sept. 11 in the wake of an attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday will hear from three "whistle blowers" expected to offer testimony enormously at odds with the administration's characterization of a strike that killed four Americans.

Testifying is Greg Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya. According to him, "everybody in the mission" believed it was an act of terror "from the get-go." But on Sept. 16 - five days after the attack - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice hit the Sunday show circuit, peddling the theory that the strike began "spontaneously" out of protests in Egypt and was not a premeditated terrorist act. Rice's spot on "Face the Nation" that day was preceded by the new president of Libya, Mohammed al-Magariaf, who said his government had "no doubt that this was pre-planned, predetermined."
[Related Stories from CBS News]

• Official: We knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack "from the get-go"
• Issa: "No question" Clinton's circle involved in Benghazi "cover-up"
• Diplomat: U.S. Special Forces told "you can't go" to Benghazi during attacks

"I've never been as embarrassed in my life, in my career, as on that day," Hicks told investigators of Rice's appearances.

May 8: The Hill:  Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee denied Benghazi Files:
Pentagon officials have denied a request from a House Republican chairman for access to documents on last year’s terrorist attack in Benghazi. "I am deeply disappointed in the Department’s response and am committed to continuing the Armed Services Committee's oversight into the tragedy at Benghazi," House Armed Services Committee chief Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) said in a statement Wednesday.  In April, McKeon asked for all classified information that went into the Department of Defense (DOD) assessment of its response to the attack, which resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. 

"The department has made every effort to provide the committee a comprehensive understanding of [its] actions" in Benghazi, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs Elizabeth King said in a May 1 letter to McKeon and Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA).  Congressional Republicans have prodded the Obama administration for more details since White House officials admitted the Benghazi strike was a planned, coordinated assault by Islamic militants in the country.  

May 7: The Washington Free Beacon: Graham: “I Think the Dam is about to break on Benghazi”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote Tuesday he believes major revelations about the lead up to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, are imminent. “I think the dam is about to break on Benghazi. We’re going to find a system failure before, during, and after the attacks.“We’re going to find political manipulation seven weeks before an election. We’re going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton. The bond that has been broken between those who serve us in harms way and the government they serve is huge — and to me every bit as damaging as Watergate.”

May 7: The Washington Times: John Bolton: Benghazi could bring down Obama administration:
The Benghazi scandal could be the final “hinge point” that brings down the Obama Administration, former UN Ambassador John Bolton said.“This could be the hinge point,” he said to Newsmax. “It’s that serious for them.” Bolton is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

His comments came as Congress is readying to hear testimony from several witnesses about the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi that killed four, including Ambassador Stevens. Bolton said the witnesses’ testimonies could prove explosive. “The three witnesses who have been identified are not bystanders,” he said in the Newsmax report. “These are not people who are going to report on hearsay of what somebody in Tripoli told somebody that they heard from. These are people who are directly involved in different capacities before, during and after the attack.” Committee staffers have hinted that the witnesses’ statements are going to prove “devastating,” especially for then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. And “you’ve already seen some Democratic members of Congress … beginning to run from this,” Bolton said.

May 7: Fox News: Islamist militia linked to Sept. 11 Benghazi attack operates freely in city:
The Ansar al Sharia Brigade, the Islamist terror group linked to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, continues to operate freely in that Libyan city, according to U.S. military officials. The group remains active in the Mediterranean port city, operating patrols and checkpoints, and earlier this year reached an agreement with other Islamist groups allowing it to operate openly, said military officials familiar with intelligence reports from North Africa. The group "continues to spread its ideology in the Benghazi area, particularly targeting youth," said one official, who noted that the lack of central government security was the key reason the militia has not been suppressed.

May 6: Fox News:  Benghazi witness: US military response could have ‘scared’ off attackers, prevented mortar strike:
The U.S. military could have prevented one wave of the deadly attack on American personnel in Benghazi if fighter jets had been promptly deployed, a top diplomatic official who was in Benghazi during the Sept. 11 assault told congressional investigators. The account, contained in a transcript obtained by Fox News, was given by Gregory Hicks during an interview last month with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Hicks, in an interview, argued that after the first wave of attacks on the U.S. consulate, the U.S. military could have prevented additional violence with a quickly scrambled flight -- after the first wave, terrorists would go on to launch a pre-dawn mortar assault on the CIA annex. "And so, in my personal opinion, a fast-mover flying over Benghazi at some point, you know, as soon as possible might very well have prevented some of the bad things that happened that night," Hicks said. He acknowledged that this would have required clearance from the Libyan government, since it is their airspace, but claimed the Libyan government would have approved such a flight.

May 6: Fox News:
Clinton sought end-run around counterterrorism bureau on night of Benghazi attack, witness will say:
On the night of Sept. 11, as the Obama administration scrambled to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a key aide effectively tried to cut the department's own counterterrorism bureau out of the chain of reporting and decision-making, according to a "whistle-blower" witness from that bureau who will soon testify to the charge before Congress, Fox News has learned. That witness is Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s counterterrorism bureau.

Sources tell Fox News Thompson will level the allegation against Clinton during testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA.  Fox News has also learned that another official from the counterterrorism bureau -- independently of Thompson -- voiced the same complaint about Clinton and Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy to trusted national security colleagues back in October. Thompson considers himself a whistle-blower whose account was suppressed by the official investigative panel that Clinton convened to review the episode, the Accountability Review Board (ARB). Thompson's lawyer, Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, has further alleged that his client has been subjected to threats and intimidation by as-yet-unnamed superiors at State, in advance of his cooperation with Congress.  

May 6: Fox News: White House hopes public will forget Benghazi:
Looks as though the Counter Terrorism Office was left out of the loop.  We could have gotten help to the people of Benghazi the report says.  Karl Rove suggested the White House would just like to see this go away. 

Also covered in this video: On September 14th the CIA had prepared unclassified talking points.  Within 45 minutes that State Department Secretary of State has chimed in saying this is not what we want to say.   After a White House conference the talking points were changed on Saturday.  On Sunday Ambassador Rice goes on five Sunday TV talk shows using the revised talking points which have since been proven to be false.

May 6: Fox News:  Donald Trump:  How far will Congress go to get answers?
The administration wanted to play this down and delay it until after the election.  Consider that the U.S. brought the rebels to power who killed the U.S. Ambassador.  It’s a bigger deal now than it was before the election.  It is the same thing in Syria, ad hoc leadership.  We are a laughing stock overseas.

May 4: The Hill: Three State Department whistle blowers to testify next week on Benghazi:
Three State Department officials described by Republicans as “whistle blowers” with damning insider knowledge about the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi will testify next week. The House Oversight Committee identified the three witnesses as Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli during the attack; Mark Thompson, the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.

“I applaud these individuals for answering our call to testify in front of the Committee,” Issa said in a statement. “They have critical information about what occurred before, during, and after the Benghazi terrorist attacks that differs on key points from what Administration officials – including those on the Accountability Review Board – have portrayed. Our committee has been contacted by numerous other individuals who have direct knowledge of the Benghazi terrorist attack, but are not yet prepared to testify,” he added. “In many cases their principal reticence of appearing in public is their concern of retaliation at the hands of their respective employers. While we may yet add additional witnesses, this panel will certainly answer some questions and leave us with many new ones.”

May 4: NewsMax.com: What You are about to hear will make you mad, Senator Graham
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Saturday that once Americans hear the testimony of three State Department survivors of the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya next week, “it’s going to make you mad. It’s going to make you upset.”

“Come Wednesday, you’re going to start hearing the truth about Benghazi,” the South Carolina Republican told former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on his Fox News program. “Our people were abandoned. They were denied assistance,” Graham said in an interview via satellite from Greenville, S.C. “And what you were told by this administration after the fact was a complete political smokescreen.”

May 3: Canada Free Press: Unraveling the Benghazi cover-up:
It will be exactly 40 years ago this May 17th that the Senate Watergate Committee, a special, broad committee convened by the United States Senate, began hearings to investigate the Watergate burglaries and a criminal cover-up of those activities. At the epicenter of those hearings was then-President Richard Nixon. If history tells us anything, it tells us that it’s not just about the crime, it’s also about the cover-up. It’s about seeking the truth, being stonewalled at every turn, and being treated as subjects undeserving of the truth rather than citizens asking reasonable questions but being denied answers.

The same level of inquiries that unraveled the complexities of the Watergate cover-up are required to unravel the apparent lies that surround the September 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans. Today, the stakes are much higher, as we stand at the precipice of a global conflict because of deeds being done in our name under a level of unprecedented and unchecked deception. Ultimately, it’s about getting the truth, which has been kept from each of us through lies of commission and omission, clever semantics, and outright refusals to provide answers to important questions. We were force-fed a preplanned lie from day one, much like the thinly veiled cover story of the Watergate burglary, but with much greater consequences. [Read the entire story]

May 2: Fox News: State Department's Benghazi review panel under investigation, Fox News confirms:
The State Department's Office of Inspector General is investigating the special internal panel that probed the Benghazi terror attack for the State Department, Fox News has confirmed. The IG's office is seeking to determine whether the Accountability Review Board (ARB) -- led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen -- failed to interview key witnesses who had asked to provide their accounts of the Benghazi attacks to the panel.

The IG's office notified the department of the "special review" on March 28, according to Doug Welty, the congressional and public affairs officer of the IG's office. This disclosure marks a significant turn in the ongoing Benghazi case, as it calls into question the reliability of the blue-ribbon panel that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened to review the entire matter. Until the report was concluded, she and all other senior Obama administration officials regularly refused to answer questions about what happened in Benghazi. Since the ARB report was issued in December -- finding that "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels" well below Clinton were to blame for the "inadequate" security at Benghazi -- Clinton and other top officials have routinely referred questioners to the conclusions of the board report. Now the methodology and final product of the ARB are themselves coming under the scrutiny of the department's own top auditor.

In a related Video Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) announced that the House Government Oversight Committee, chaired by Representative Issa (R-ca) will commence hearings next Wednesday on Benghazi and that at least some whistle blowers and people who wanted to get the truth out will be testifying. The State Department has not been helpful Chaffetz reported. All we wanted them to do was to provide the process they want followed so that some of these witnesses can have access to attorneys who can look at classified documents.
 
In a follow up Fox News video White House spokesman Carney said that the administration had received no request from a private attorney to be cleared for access to classified Benghazi documents.  But Attorney Victoria Toensing responded in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly that she has at least one Department of State employee who wants her to represent him/her and that she has called the contact provided by State and left numerous voice mail messages which to date have not been returned.

May 2: Fox News: Special Ops Called for Military Backup During Benghazi Attack:
On the night of the Benghazi terror attack, special operations put out multiple calls for all available military and other assets to be moved into position to help -- but the State Department and White House never gave the military permission to cross into Libya, sources told Fox News.  The disconnect was one example of what sources described as a communication breakdown that left those on the ground without outside help. 

"When you are on the ground, you depend on each other -- we're gonna get through this situation. But when you look up and then nothing outside of the stratosphere is coming to help you or rescue you, that's a bad feeling," one source said. Multiple sources spoke to Fox News about what they described as a lack of action in Benghazi on Sept. 11 last year, when four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed. "They had no plan. They had no contingency plan for if this happens, and that's the problem this is going to face in the future," one source said. "They're dealing with more hostile regions, hostile countries. This attack's going to happen again." 

The failure of the State Department or White House to give the military permission to go into Libya, according to the source, only accentuates the significant breakdown in communication among the State Department, military, CIA and White House.  "I can see the initial confusion in the beginning. I mean, you have a situation that's developing. The problem with the State Department is they don't have procedures in place. And if they do, they haven't practiced or exercised them. And now they are making up for all the mistakes they have made, with excuse. And there is no excuse," the source said, describing a "huge breakdown between State and military."

May 1: The Hill:  GOP says Benghazi whistle blowers will 'expose new facts’
Eyewitnesses with potentially damaging information on the Obama administration’s handling of last year's terror attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi will testify at a hearing next week, Republicans said. The House oversight committee is holding a hearing next week that will “expose new facts and details that the Obama administration has tried to suppress,” oversight chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said Wednesday. Two of Issa's lieutenants said the witnesses at the hearing would include federal employees with direct knowledge of the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), chairman of the oversight subpanel on national security, said people with “personal firsthand knowledge” would testify about the attack. Asked if any “whistle blowers” would be among the witnesses, Chaffetz said: “I think they will be appearing. Some of them.” And Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a member of Chaffetz's subpanel, told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren late Tuesday that the eyewitnesses would “expose new facts and details that the Obama administration has tried to suppress.”

May 1: Fox News: FBI Posts Photos of Individuals Wanted for Questioning on Benghazi:
The FBI has posted images of three people wanted for questioning regarding the terror attack last year on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, as investigators continue to search for suspects more than seven months after the deadly assault.  The FBI released the grainy images on its website, claiming the individuals pictured were at the U.S. compound when it was attacked on Sept. 11. 

"We are seeking information about three individuals who were on the grounds of the U.S. Special Mission when it was attacked," the FBI said in a statement. "These individuals may be able to provide information to help in the investigation."  U.S. officials have struggled to track down and detain suspects ever since the attack, despite a pledge by President Obama immediately afterward that "justice will be done."  One individual held in Tunisia was released by a judge in January. Sources told Fox News that the U.S. has actually identified the mastermind of the attack, who according to them is walking free in Libya, though that claim has not been confirmed publicly by federal officials. The FBI said it is asking "Libyans and people around the world" for information on the attacks, which killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. 

Apr. 30: Fox News: Help Was Only 4-6 Hours Away in Benghazi:
While the Obama administration insists that there was not enough time to mount a rescue mission to save U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya, a 40-man special-operations rapid-deployment force was only four to six hours away during the Sept. 11 siege, according to Fox News. A confidential informant who appeared on air in a disguise and who was identified only as a “special operator who watched the events unfold and has debriefed those who are part of the response” said “We had the ability to load out, get on birds, and fly there at a minimum. C-110 [the forty man team] had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in four to six hours from their European theater to react.”

In addition to that, a unit that had been training about 3½-hours away in Croatia were also available. At least 15 special forces and highly skilled State Department security staff could also have been deployed from the Libyan capital of Tripoli the source said. None of those assets were dispatched even though all of them had been trained as quick-responders. The Fox source said he believes such a force could have made a difference if it had been sent to Benghazi shortly after the initial attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound at around 9:30 p.m. The siege ended some seven hours later at a CIA annex about a mile away.“They would have been there before the second attack," he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) complained that he had received no responses to four letters sent to the Obama administration calling for whistle-blowers' lawyers to get the security clearances needed to represent their clients.

Apr. 30: Fox News: Why are the Benghazi Attackers still free (video):
Confidential Informant is frustrated over the lack of action and leadership.

Apr. 29: Fox News: Help Could Have Been Provided to the Consulate in Benghazi, Whistle Blower Reports (Video)
A 40 man rapid deployment force was conducting exercises in Europe just three to four hours away when the Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi occurred.  The interviewee said the C-110 force, which was created for just this kind of operation, was ready, willing and able to go to the aid of those at the U.S. Consulate but never got the OK to move out. Many of those who know what actually happened are keeping quiet because they feel intimidated by those in high office.

Apr. 29: Fox News: 
Heavy Pressure Being Applied by Administration to Keep Civil Servants from Coming Forth on Benghazi (Video)  
Very serious charges are being made that forces were, in fact, available to help those under attack in Benghazi and that career civil servants in both the Department of State and in the CIA are being threatened so that they will not come forth and tell the real story that seems to contradict what the Obama Administration has been saying.  Hillary Clinton says she never saw the cable asking for additional security in Benghazi and yet it turns out her initials are on that cable and that she denied additional resources. It looks like a cover up is going on and the main stream media are just looking the other way. 

Apr. 29: Fox News:
Whistle Blowers Seek Legal Counsel prior to Congressional Testimony; Careers Being Threatened by the Administration:
Fox News has learned that at least three career employees at the Department of State and one at the Central Intelligence Agency have obtained lawyers so that they can provide sensitive information to Congressional Committees.  The four consider themselves whistle blowers and want their counsel to receive security clearances to allow them to review classified documents.  The counsel for one of the clients has told Fox News that the State Department is not providing a process for doing this and, in fact, has threatened her client. She said, on air, that career employees have been told that their careers will be over if they testify before Congress.  

Apr. 26: U-T San Diego: Chairman Issa says Benghazi Hearing Will Expose Failings:
Congressman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) investigation is poised to retake center stage in Washington. Issa said “The American people still don’t have the full truth about what happened, both before and after the murders of four brave Americans.” He plans a new round of hearings in May before the House Oversight Committee. “Our hearing will examine new facts about what happened and significant problems with the administration’s own view of Benghazi failures.”

The hearing likely will center on information from unnamed whistle blowers who contacted his committee. Their information, he said, presents evidence that Obama administration officials have attempted to suppress. “While President Obama and his administration may be inclined to give free passes to senior officials who bungled their responsibilities, this committee will expose what they did and hold them accountable to the public,” Issa said. Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have defended the administration’s handling of Benghazi but acknowledged that security at the compound could have been better. Patricia Smith of San Diego, the mother of Sean Smith, said Friday that she is anxious for the hearing. “My son is dead, and I want to know why my son and three other people were sacrificed,” she said. “I want to know who is responsible.”

Apr. 24: Fox News: Poll Shows People Think Obama Should Have Been More Engaged:
Voters are divided over how the White House is handling the September 11, 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.  On President Obama’s role, however, voters are clear:  he should have been more involved.

A Fox News poll asked voters about their reaction to former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s testimony to Congress in February on the Benghazi attack.  Panetta testified that after the initial 5:00 PM briefing with the president, he didn’t hear from the President Obama or anyone at the White House again that night.

Apr. 23: The Hill: GOP Benghazi Report Blames Clinton:
House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a report on last year's Benghazi attack that blames former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for approving lax security measures and accuses her of seeking to cover up her department's failures.  The 46-page report is a compilation of five committees' conclusions after seven months of investigation since the attack on the U.S. Consulate killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. It was distributed to Republican House members on Tuesday.

The report inoculates Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and his committee leaders from conservative criticism that they're giving the Obama administration a free pass by opposing the creation of a select committee endorsed by more than half the Republican conference. It's also a first shot at Clinton's legacy at the State Department as she begins to lay the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2016.

• Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. This fact contradicts her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 23, 2013;
  
  
• In the days following the attacks, White House and senior State Department officials altered accurate talking points drafted by the Intelligence Community in order to protect the State Department; and
  
  
• Contrary to Administration rhetoric, the talking points were not edited to protect classified information. Concern for classified information is never mentioned in email traffic among senior Administration officials.
  

The report says Clinton had been informed of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi but signed off on cuts anyway. The conclusions are at odds with Clinton's testimony that she did not personally read the cables about the security situation in Benghazi.

Apr. 21: The Washington Times:
Move Toward Select Committee to Investigate Benghazi Gains Momentum, Speaker Balks:
The effort to push Congress to appoint a Select Committee to investigate Benghazi gained traction last week, thanks to the leadership of Congressman Frank Wolf, OpSec and the father of slain Navy SEAL Ty Woods, Charlie Woods. OpSec is a nonpartisan advocacy group for Special Operations and Intelligence forces. [The mission of the group is to “protect US Special Operations Forces and national intelligence assets from political exploitation, misguided policies, and intentional misuse of classified information, all of which expose them and their families to greater risk and reduce their ability to keep Americans safe.” 

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) introduced HR 36 last December seeking to create the House Select Committee on the Terrorist Attack in Benghazi. That committee would be charged with investigating every aspect of the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. The members of the committee would include the chairmen and ranking members of the committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Judiciary, Homeland Security and Government Reform and Oversight, with other members appointed by House leaders based on expertise. 

Apr. 18: RealClearPolitics.com:  Kerry, We have a lot more important things to (than Benghazi) to move on to:   
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R-CA): Mr. Secretary, we think that there was a coverup of some kind of wrongdoing that led this administration to lie to the American people about the nature of the attack immediately after the attack and for a week after that attack. We need to have these questions answered. We need to talk to the people who are on the scene. Can you give us a commitment now that for this administration you will be coming up with the request, the honest request of this investigative committee as to who was evacuated and how to talk to them so we can get a straight answer and an understanding of what happened in Benghazi?

SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY: Well, before I became Secretary, Congressman, I believe I got the answers to who was evacuated and had a pretty good sense of what happened there. But now that I am the Secretary and I am responsible to you and the Congress, I can promise you that if you're not getting something that you have evidence of, or you think you ought to be getting, we'll work with you. And I will appoint somebody to work directly with you starting tomorrow, with you, Mr. Chairman, to have a review of anything you don't think you've gotten that you're supposed to get. Let's get this done with, folks. Let's figure out what it is that's missing, if it's legitimate or if it isn't. I don't think anybody lied to anybody. And let's find out exactly, together, what happened, because we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done.

Apr. 17: The Hill: Boehner’s hand forced on Benghazi:
Speaker John Boehner is trying to head off a GOP rebellion over his handling of the investigation into last year’s fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, by releasing an interim report of evidence by his panel chairmen. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told lawmakers Tuesday that the heads of the Oversight, Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, Intelligence and Judiciary committees will issue a joint report next week, The Hill has learned.

Apr. 17: Fox News: Lawmakers seek clearance to interview Benghazi 'witnesses'
House Republicans are trying to secure clearance in order to interview a number of "witnesses" for their investigation into the Benghazi terror attack, as potential whistleblowers seek protection against government retaliation, Fox News has learned. Fox News has obtained three letters, dated April 16, sent to the top legal counsels at CIA, Department of State, and the Pentagon. They were written by Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and ask each agency for its official description of the legal steps needed to get clearance for whistleblowers to be able to share classified information about the attacks with their attorneys. Issa said "numerous individuals" have approached the committee with information on the attack. It's unclear whether these individuals were at the Benghazi compound during the Sept. 11, 2012, assault, or are officials in Washington with knowledge of the situation. He noted that some witnesses might need to retain counsel, which is why he asked for the documentation on that issue.

The letters ask for the material to be provided to Issa's office by 5 p.m. April 17, 2013. When contacted by FoxNews.com at 5 p.m., a spokeswoman said they had not received the information yet.

Apr. 17: Fox News: Kerry vows Benghazi liaison to Congress within 24 hours, amid lingering questions:
Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday he will assign a special department liaison to help Congress with unanswered questions about the 2012 fatal terror attacks on a United States outpost in Libya. Kerry said the appointment will be made as early as Thursday, following repeated questions about the incident during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Kerry’s remark followed sharp comments from California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who suggested the Obama administration has lied to congressional investigators.

Apr. 17: Politico:  Benghazi Victim’s Father Wants Probe:
The father of a former Navy SEAL killed in the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, is in town to demand a congressional inquiry — but also says he isn’t ready to deal with Washington’s politics. Charles Woods, in his first sit-down interview since his son, Tyrone, was killed in the attacks, said it is imperative for Congress to formally investigate the events surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks last year. An investigation by an independent State Department review board lacked “truthful firsthand information,” he argued, and senators did not sufficiently question then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she testified on the issue at a congressional hearing.

Apr. 11: US News & World Report: Sean Smith's Mom Fumes Over Benghazi in Letter to Congress
The mother of Sean Smith, an information management officer killed in the attack in Benghazi, has for months expressed her frustration with the Obama administration for not sharing more information about what happened that day. Now, she's reaching out to members of Congress. Pat Smith placed a call to Rep. Frank Wolf, R–VA, on Wednesday to voice her support for a proposed House Select Committee to investigate the attack. She has also since sent a letter to Wolf in which she slams the Obama administration for keeping her in the dark.

Apr. 8: Foreign Policy Blog | FrontPage.Mag: 700 Special Ops Vets call for Benghazi Committee:
Hundreds of veterans of various special operations units joined together Monday to call on Congress to create a special committee to investigate the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benhgazi.

"The undersigned are a representative group of some 700 retired Military Special Operations professionals who spent the majority of their careers preparing for and executing myriad operations to rescue or recover detained or threatened fellow Americans," reads a letter organized by Special Operations Speaks, a group of special ops vets formed during last year's presidential campaign. "In fact, many of us participated in both the Vietnam era POW rescue effort, The Son Tay Raid, as well as Operation Eagle Claw, the failed rescue attempt in April of 1980 in Iran, so we have been at this for many years and have a deep passion for seeking the truth about what happened during the national tragedy in Benghazi," the letter continues.

The open letter was addressed to all members of Congress and calls for them to support H.R. 36, a bill that would create a House Select Committee on the Terrorist Attack in Benghazi. The bill was introduced in January by Rep. Frank Wolf(R-VA) and now has more than 60 co-sponsors. According to the bill the committee would be required to investigate and report back to Congress within 90 days on a number of issues related to the attack, including: intelligence known to the U.S. relating to the attack , requests for additional security or actions taken to improve security at the mission before the attack, a definitive timeline of the attack, how the relevant agencies responded to the attack and whether appropriate congressional notifications were made, any improper conduct by officials relating to the attack, and recommendations on what steps Congress and the president should take to prevent future attacks.

Apr. 8: Fox News: Special ops veterans’ group calls for select probe of Benghazi attack:
More than 700 Special Operations veterans are urging members of Congress to back a select committee to investigate last year’s Benghazi terrorist attack, according to a letter first obtained by Fox News.
The letter from the group, “Special Operations Speaks,” supports the appointment of a special committee tasked with the single mission of investigating the attack that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead, and shut down the CIA operation in an annex of the Benghazi consulate, in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack. “Congress must show some leadership and provide answers to the public as to what actually occurred in Benghazi. Americans have a right to demand a full accounting on this issue," the letter stated.

Apr. 5: Mediate.com: Mother Of Slain Benghazi Officer To Sean Hannity: ‘They Want Me To Shut Up’
On Friday, Sean Hannity  brought Pat Smith, mother of the late Sean Smith, on his radio program. The 34-year-old information management officer was one of four Americans murdered in the Benghazi embassy attack on September 11, 2012. In the chilling interview, a distraught Smith, in tears, pleaded for answers and spoke of the efforts to silence her. Smith first relayed how her son, prior to the attack, requested additional security in advance and warned the State Department: He did tell them, ahead of time, he typed it into his little typewriter over there, that they were going to be attacked, ‘please they needed more security,’ and they were ignored. [Likely referring to Obama Smith continued] And I don’t appreciate everybody going to bed and going to sleep and not taking care of the guys that they put in harm’s way, one of them being my son.

Smith then spoke of the intimidation she has experienced in her quest for answers, noting she is being silenced, though Hannity clarified it is not by someone in the government: They don’t tell me much. They want me to shut up…. I was told, and I really would rather not say by who, [though] I can if you need it, but I was told that I’m causing a lot of problems and to shut up…. I told them ‘I will not! I will not shut up until I find out what really happened!’

Apr. 5: FloridaToday.com: Letter: Obama has forgotten four Benghazi deaths:
I got a bit of a chuckle when President Barack Obama vowed last week to never forget the 20 children killed in the Newtown massacre: “Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids.” He has, however, conveniently forgotten the U.S. ambassador and three other brave Americans who died in Benghazi last year. The Newtown victims were very young, innocent children, but as Americans, they weren’t any better or worse than the rest of Americans. As a 75-year-old, long-ago naturalized citizen of these once great United States of America, I never thought that one day I would fear my government. Well, that day has arrived, and the America we have known and loved for over two centuries no longer exists.

Mar. 27: Newsmax.com: Marines to put Rapid Response Teams on Navy Ships in Response to Benghazi
Rapid response U.S. Marine Corps forces will be placed on Navy ships in the wake of harsh criticism of bungled response to the Benghazi attack. “When these crises happen, they happen instantaneously,” Gen. James Amos, commandant of the Marines, told the Wall Street Journal. “If you are going to respond, you don’t have time to gather forces back in the U.S., load them on C-17s, fly them someplace and land them on some country’s airfield that might not want you on their ground."

Amos said the military is looking at adding special-operations teams of 14 Marines to ships carrying larger Marine Expeditionary Units. “What if it is a takedown of a pirate ship? What if it is a rescue of American personnel in a really thorny situation?” he added. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have that capability on amphibious ships?”

Mar. 25: Forbes.Com: Benghazi Survivors Hiding in DC Hospital?
For more than six months since the September 11, 2012 attacks on America’s diplomatic outposts in Benghazi, the Obama administration has been unwilling to turn over the names or whereabouts of any survivors. They may be hiding plain sight. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has learned that “as many as seven Americans have been or are currently being treated,” at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.—less than 11 miles from the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Wolf cited two independent confidential sources for his information.

It seems that the survivors have been told not to talk. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has been in touch with the family members of Benghazi survivors, has said that the survivors have been “told to be quiet” by Obama administration officials. “The public needs to hear from people who were on the ground, their desperate situation. They need to understand from people who were there for months how bad it was getting and how frustrated they were that nobody would listen to them and provide aid.”

Mar. 21: Fox News: GOP House and Senate Leaders Join Forces to Share Info on Benghazi:
House Speaker John Boehner convened a special meeting on the Benghazi, Libya, terrorist attack Thursday, bringing in the chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Government Oversight committees, as well as Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Fox News has learned.

While the three House Committees are conducting independent investigations of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Government Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce and Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers agreed to now pool their findings in a single report that should be complete in "weeks not months.""There were some members who wanted to have a conversation to kind of compare notes on what we know and what we don't know. And frankly, there's a lot that we still don't know," Boehner said. "It was a friendly exchange of information and some decisions about a way forward."

Mar. 18: Fox News: Bolton talks about possible gag order on Benghazi survivors:

Mar. 18: Washington Times: Lindsey Graham continues strong statements on Benghazi:
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been relentless in his efforts and his rhetoric is getting bolder and louder. “I’ve had contact with some of the survivors. Their story is chilling,” Graham told FOX News anchor Bret Baier on Friday. “The bottom line is, they feel that they cannot come forward. They’ve been told to be quiet, and at the end of the day, we can’t let this administration or any other administration get away with hiding from the American people and the Congress; people who were there in real-time to tell the story.” Strong words any way you interpret them. If true, Graham’s assertions could have implications not only for Barack Obama but also for Hillary Clinton.

Forget about U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice who appeared on five Sunday morning news shows shortly after the attack. Rice was a scapegoat, and it cost her dearly when Clinton vacated her position as secretary of state. What is more relevant is the fact that so many of the Benghazi survivors are unwilling to come forward to tell their story. That alone should be an indication that something is amiss.

Mar. 18: Investors.com: GOP Should Subpoena Benghazi's Silenced Witnesses:
The House GOP has threatened to subpoena the survivors of the Benghazi terrorist attack, those who know the truth, and hold up the nomination of our murdered ambassador's replacement. It should do both. The Obama administration is fond of using a familiar tactic, the shield of an "ongoing investigation," to cover up its malfeasance in the deaths of Americans serving their country. It was used to hide the truth regarding the administration's Fast and Furious gun-running operation to Mexican drug cartels, which resulted in the deaths of agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata. They are using it again concerning Benghazi.

The only American witnesses to the Benghazi attack who have been named by the Obama administration are the four whom the terrorists killed in the Sept. 11 attack on our Benghazi mission — Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, who were working for the CIA. In her sometimes indignant testimony on Benghazi in January, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified that she had not talked to any of the some 30 Benghazi survivors, particularly those associated with the State Department, in the aftermath of the attack, saying she had to wait until the Accountability Review Board finished its investigation.

Mar. 17: WND.com: Are the Secret Wounded from Benghazi, CIA?
There are said to have been seven of them – seven American survivors of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, who were seriously wounded but remain unknown six months after the fact, but no one knows why. Initial reports said there were 30 American survivors, seven of whom required extensive medical attention.

Now, a U.S. intelligence source who asked to remain unnamed has told WND that the American survivors who are said to be receiving extensive medical attention at Walter Reed Hospital near Washington, D.C., are contractors and employees for the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA, using the State Department as a cover for their actual affiliation. The intelligence source added that the facility in Benghazi called the “annex” was used by CIA as a base to look for weapons which had been taken from Libyan weapons stockpiles at the height of the 2011 civil war that saw the overthrow of Libyan leader Moammar al-Gadhafi, who ruled that country for some 40 years.

Mar. 15: Fox News: Survivors of Benghazi told to be quiet and not to tell their story:
Fox News Special Report interview with Senator Graham (R-SC). Graham: They should be allowed to speak without fear of reprisal. They felt that they were abandoned. We need to find out what happened so it never happens again.

Mar. 14: The Daily Caller: Benghazi suspect detained in Libya:
A suspect in the September 11, 2012 attack on the American consulate in  Benghazi, Libya is now being held in the country, according to CNN. The outlet’s two unnamed sources say the man’s name is Faraj al-Shibli, a former member of the Libyan Islamist Fighting Group which sought to overthrow  Moammar Gadhafi.“One of the sources, who has been briefed on the arrest by Western intelligence officials, said al-Shibli was detained within the past two days and had recently returned from a trip to Pakistan,” CNN reported. Last year’s consulate attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans,  including ambassador Chris Stevens.

Mar. 6: The New York Post: Benghazi e-mails reveal who initiated changes to talking points:
The Obama camp has finally revealed who removed references to al Qaeda from talking points on the Sept. 11 attack of the US consulate in Benghazi, according to a new report. The newly-released e-mails show the removal of “al Qaeda” was initiated, at least in part, by one of the “press shops” for agencies involved in reviewing the talking points, a source who saw the documents told CBS News. The voluminous documents, requested by the Senate Intelligence Committee, were made available to senators on the committee ahead of its confirmation vote on CIA director John Brennan.

Press officers from the Defense Intelligence agency, the White House and the FBI all reviewed the talking points and some of them were concerned that the media would ask follow-up questions if certain words or phrases were used, according to the report. But the documents show that once the attacks began, “most if not all contact” between officials in Libya and DC reference al Qaeda as being the suspected instigator. The few references to demonstrations were by people who had not observed any, the report states. "It's amazing that anyone would question who was behind the attack and keep the idea of the demonstration going for weeks," the source said.

Mar. 6: CBS News: Press officers partly responsible for Benghazi talking points changes:
Prior to the Senate Intelligence Committee's vote on CIA director nominee John Brennan to move to a full Senate vote, the Obama administration provided much of the information the Senate Intelligence Committee had been requesting for five months regarding the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S consulate in Benghazi, Libya, CBS News has learned. The documents are voluminous and both Republicans and Democrats on the committee had the opportunity to review them.

Regarding the changes to the talking points the CBS source said press officers from the Defense Intelligence agency, the White House and the FBI were "looped in" from the start and that some of them expressed concerns in writing that the media would ask follow up questions if certain words or phrases were used. The source added that the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell were included in these emails.

Mar. 6: Fox News: Lawmakers demand access to survivors injured in Benghazi attack:
Six months after the Sept. 11 terror attack in Benghazi, Republican lawmakers are fuming that they haven’t been granted access to the survivors – several of whom, Fox News has learned, are still recovering at Walter Reed military hospital. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-UT, told Fox News that he spoke to a “handful of people” when he visited Libya shortly after the attack but has struggled to gain access to the survivors ever since. “We want talk to the survivors -- they won’t do that. And then the president has the gall to go on television and say ‘oh, we’re providing all the access’? Baloney. Bull-crap. That is not happening.” Estimates of how many Americans were injured in the Libya assault vary.

Reps. Frank Wolf, R-VA, and Jim Gerlach, R-PA., claim sources have told them up to 30 were injured, and up to seven may still be at Walter Reed. “Several may have required amputations,” they wrote in a letter to colleagues last week.

Two sources with high-level access to Western intelligence services have told CNN the call was made to a senior figure in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. There is no proof that the call was specifically about the attack, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed, but the sources say that is the assumption among those with knowledge of the call.

Mar. 3: The Daily Caller: Andrew McCarthy on Benghazi: ‘Decisive action could have saved American lives’:
Former Clinton administration federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy told The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas that the Obama administration’s response to the attack on America’s consulate in Benghazi, Libya last September was a “shocking dereliction of duty” and that “decisive action could have saved American lives.”

“I use the term ‘dereliction of duty’ with all due care, because dereliction of duty is an impeachable offense,” said the former prosecutor. “But this is the most gross dereliction of duty under these circumstances from a commander in chief and his immediate subordinates that I ever remember seeing in my experience. And we haven’t gotten an explanation … if there were coherent reasons why no action was taken.”

McCarthy goes on to discuss efforts by this Administration to codify Sharia Law by using United Nations resolutions.

Mar. 3: CBS News: Demanding Benghazi documents, McCain, Graham will delay Brennan nomination:
Senators. John McCain, R-AZ, and Lindsey Graham, R-SC will not move forward President Obama's nominee to head the CIA until they receive additional documents detailing the White House's handling of the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the pair said today on "Face the Nation."

Mar. 3: The Hill | The Daily Caller: McCain & Graham "Hell-Bent" on Getting Answers before Brennan Vote:
Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will continue to push for details on the Benghazi Consulate attack even if it disrupts the confirmation process for a new Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, the pair said Sunday. Speaking on "Face the Nation," Graham insisted that John Brennan's nomination should not move forward until we "get to the bottom of" what happened in Libya. "John and I are hell-bent on making sure the American people understand this debacle called Benghazi," Graham said.

Feb. 22: Fox News: White House to give Senate Intelligence panel members documents on Benghazi attack:
The White House has agreed to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents related to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, a congressional aide said Friday. Republicans had demanded the documents as a condition of voting on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director. The documents include emails between top national security officials showing the debate within the administration over how to describe the attack and other documents the committee had been asking for, the aide said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Feb. 20: Human Events: Judicial Watch Files Suit to Get Benghazi Documents:
The leading legal and investigatory government watchdog announced Feb. 20 that it filed suit in federal court demanding the President Barack Obama and the director of national intelligence release documents relating to the Sept. 11-12 attacks on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi. “With all of the Benghazi lies coming out of the Obama administration, the only way to get at the truth is to release these records immediately,” said Thomas J. Fitton, the president of the Washington-based Judicial Watch a non-partisan education foundation.

The lawsuit asks the court to compel the Obama administration to release documents originally requested Oct. 19 through the Freedom of Information Act process, he said. The suit, filed Feb. 14, requested any and all memoranda, assessments, analyses, and/or talking points regarding the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi, Libya Consulate and or the killing of Amb. J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans, produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence between Sept.11 and Sept. 20.

Feb. 18: FoxNews: Senator McCain accuses Administration of massive cover up:
Retired General Jack Keane says this issue would go away if the Administration would come clean. It is five months after the attack and there are still unanswered questions. Fox News National Security Analyst said that in her experience when a President tells his staff to handle it and let him know what happens, it sends the signal to the Secretary of Defense and others that he is not interested. That means they are not going to commit U.S. forces for a rescue mission. Without the President authorizing it, nothing is going to happen and that conversation never happened.

Feb. 18: Fox News: Nominations Delayed Until Benghazi Questions are Answered:
President is saying Benghazi is campaign stuff but panelists say its months after the campaign has been over. The President is trying to sweep this under the rug. The former Carter and Clinton advisors on the panel didn't understand why Obama is doing this. When they worked in the White House their boss was following issues like the hostage crisis in Iran minute by minute and in the case of Benghazi the President is visibly absent. And this is directly impacting the President's nominees.

Feb. 15: The Daily Caller: By the way, Obama didn’t make any phone calls as Benghazi was attacked:
President Obama didn’t make any phone calls the night of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the White House said in a letter to Congress released Thursday. “During the entire attack, the president of the United States never picked up the phone to put the weight of his office in the mix,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who had held up Mr. Obama’s defense secretary nominee to force the information to be released.

Mr. Graham said that if Mr. Obama had picked up the phone, at least two of the Americans killed in the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi might still be alive because he might have been able to push U.S. aid to get to the scene faster.

Feb. 15: FoxNews:The President was aware of the security problems in Benghazi GOP lawmaker says:
President Obama knew about the IED attacks on the Benghazi consulate in the run-up to the deadly Sept. 11 assault, a top Republican lawmaker claims, suggesting the president was aware of the deteriorating security situation. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Thursday that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told him "the president was informed of the April and June attacks." One of those attacks, in June, blew a hole in the perimeter wall of the Benghazi compound. The two strikes were among dozens of security incidents recorded in the region in the months preceding Sept. 11, and in hindsight have been described as warning signs.

The disclosure about Obama comes after a string of Capitol Hill hearings in which top administration officials downplayed how much they knew about the security situation at the compound in advance of the September attack.

Feb. 11: Fox News: Now we know -- President Obama was MIA on Benghazi:
The Benghazi terrorist attack was a debacle in three distinct stages. The fatal mistakes occurred in the first two — the failure to provide adequate security before the attack and the failure to provide help once it started. Those mistakes were tragic, but the Obama administration’s explanations are coherent, though hardly defensible.

The mystery always has been the third stage — the aftermath, or more accurately, the cover up. Finally, we have the answer, thanks to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. In his reluctant Senate testimony, he provided the missing piece of the puzzle: The commander in chief was MIA. The cover up was created to protect his absence.

Feb. 10: Fox News: Senator Graham (R-SC) Threatens to Hold Up Hagel Nomination: Senator Graham has said that he will do everything possible to stop the Hagel nomination to be Secretary of Defense until the President explains where he was and what he was doing while the Benghazi attack was going on for seven hours.

Feb. 8: The Daily Caller: Under questioning from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta could not explain why President Barack Obama spoke with him only once on Sept. 11, 2012 during the Benghazi terrorist attack, and never called back for any updates for over seven hours. [See the dialogue from the hearing]

Feb. 7: FoxNews: The top two Defense Department officials were sharply challenged by lawmakers Thursday on their insistent claims that nothing more could have been done to save the four Americans who were killed in the Sept. 11 terror attack in Benghazi. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, disputed testimony from General Dempsey that the difficulty in dispatching assets to the scene was "a problem of distance and time." He suggested the "light footprint" in the region and a failure to respond to threats left the military ill-prepared. 

"For you to testify that our posture would not allow a rapid response -- our posture was not there because we didn't take into account the threats to that consulate, and that's why four Americans died," McCain said. "We could have placed forces there. We could have had aircraft and other capacity a short distance away." He continued: "No forces arrived there until well after these murders took place." 

Dempsey acknowledged having gotten word of a warning from the U.S. consulate about being unable to withstand a sustained attack, but said the military never got a request for support from the State Department. 
"So it's the State Department's fault?" McCain asked, curtly. 
"I'm not blaming the State Department," Dempsey said. 
McCain responded: "Who would you blame?" 

Feb. 7: USA Today: On the night that the U.S. consulate was attacked in Libya, the U.S.military had a rapid reaction force of Marines in Spain, two Navy destroyers off the Libyan coast, and U.S. fighter jets parked on the nearby Mediterranean island of Crete. But Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey on Thursday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that none of it could've stopped the attack. The "rapid reaction force" would've taken at least 12 hours to get to the scene, they said.

The testimony of the top Pentagon leaders answered some of the questions surrounding the Sept. 11 attack but not all. One question above all others that was answered is sure to generate controversy. The engagement of President Obama during the evening of the attack has been a question for months. In the hearing room, Panetta testified that he was up all night monitoring the situation and that he never heard from the president.

Feb. 7: CNN: A testy exchange erupted on Thursday between Sen. John McCain and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey during the latter's testimony about last September's deadly terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

"General Dempsey, I was just going over your written statement and I have to admit it's one of the more bizarre statements that I have ever seen in my years in this committee," McCain said, referring to the Senate Armed Services Committee. "When you're talking about the Benghazi issue, you say, 'We positioned our forces in a way that was informed by and consistent with available threat estimates.' Then you go on to say, 'Our military was appropriately responsive,' even though seven hours passed and two Americans died at the end of that. Then you go on and say, 'We did what our posture and capabilities allowed.'"

During the interchange Dempsey said that help was not sent because the State Department didn't request it. "So it's the State Department's fault," McCain challenged.

Feb. 4: FoxNews: Panetta defends Benghazi response:
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, ahead of expected testimony on Capitol Hill about the Libya attack, said the United States simply didn’t have enough time to respond to the fatal terrorist strike. Panetta said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” the U.S. had intelligence about activity among extremist groups in the region but “didn’t have enough time” to respond. On CNN’s “State of the Union” that the Obama administration had no warning about the Benghazi attacks, despite U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens’ requests in the prior weeks for more security.

Feb. 1: FoxNews: Clinton says critics of handling of Benghazi attack aren't living in 'evidence-based world': Departing Secretatry of State Hillary Clinton took a slap at her critics saying to The Associated Press that critics of the administration's handling of the attack don't live in an "evidence-based world" and their refusal to "accept the facts" is unfortunate and regrettable for the political system. She was relaxed but clearly perturbed by allegations from Republican lawmakers and commentators that the administration had intentionally misled the public about whether the attack was a protest gone awry or a terrorist attack, or intentionally withheld additional security for diplomatic personnel in Libya knowing that an attack could happen.

Feb 1: PressTV: Panetta to testify on Benghazi: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, an aide confirmed to The Hill. The agreement to testify should remove one roadblock to the confirmation of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), President Obama’s nominee to replace Panetta at the Pentagon.

“The one thing I’m not going to do is vote on a new secretary of Defense until the old secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, who I like very much, testifies about what happened in Benghazi,” Graham [R-SC] said on Monday.

Jan. 30: Breitbart.com:Graham Threatens Hagel Confirmation Unless Panetta Testifies on Benghazi: Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters on Tuesday he wants  "to hear Leon Panetta on Benghazi before we confirm the new defense secretary." Graham did not say if he would vote against former Senator Chuck Hagel's confirmation for defense secretary, but he did say he has "some real concerns about some of [Hagel's] positions."

"I don’t think Leon (Panetta) has objected to testify. I just don’t know when it's going to be scheduled. I just don’t want to go forward until we find out what our secretary of defense did in response to Benghazi. He has to schedule it," Graham said.

Jan. 29: Fox News: Graham vows to block Hagel confirmation process until Panetta testifies on Benghazi: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will block Chuck Hagel’s confirmation process for Secretary of Defense until outgoing Secretary Leon Panetta testifies about the fatal attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Graham wants to know what the Pentagon did, if anything, to help the American diplomats during the September 11, 2011 attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi.

Graham is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- the committee responsible for handling the confirmation of the next Secretary of Defense. Under the Senate rules any Senator may place a "hold" on the Senate considering the confirmation of a Presidential appointee.

Jan. 28: FoxNews: Senator John Cornyn says the hearings last week left a lot of unanswered questions: Cornyn (R-TX) told Fox News that the Obama/Clinton interview was really a public relations event. The issue that needs to be addressed is that four of our people were murdered in Benghazi and we need to make sure that our foreign service personnel are protected.

Jan. 27: Politico: Senator Corker says Don't blame Clinton on Benghazi info: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not to blame for alleged misinformation about Ambassador Chris Stevens death in Libya, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said Sunday.  “The deception around the Benghazi issue did not come from the State Department, and no doubt emanated from Susan Rice on this program and others, on that Sunday morning,” Corker said on “Fox News Sunday.”  Corker was referring to Rice’s appearance on the Sunday shows, where she was accused of giving misinformation about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

Jan. 26: FoxNews: Did lawmakers push Sec'y Clinton for answers on Benghazi? The consensus is no! As Senator McCain put it, we only had five minutes. There is not much you can do in that period of time especially when you take exception with what the Secretary had already said.  In this setting you don't get the opportunity for a back and forth dialogue which leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Jan. 24: The Daily Caller: Speaker Boehner blasts Hillary Clinton for blaming Congress on Libya security: On Wednesday’s broadcast of Laura Ingraham’s radio program, Speaker Boehner repudiated Hillary Clinton’s efforts during testimony on Wednesday to blame Congress for the Benghazi fiasco. “We gave them all the money they asked for to make sure that our diplomats and our employees around the world were safe.” Boehner said. “It’s clear that her own people in Libya asked for additional security, and it’s also clear their request was rejected, and I think the secretary needs to explain why. In all, it’s all part of our bigger concern that this is their ‘lead from behind’ strategy. We’ve only seen passive responses to the rise of extremism and terrorist networks in places like Egypt or Tunisia or Libya and now Algeria. America has to lead in the effort to combat violent extremism and terrorism wherever it appears. And yet this White House seems content to watch passively and respond only if necessary.”

Boehner said the House would continue its oversight role by investigating the attack.
“The Congress is going to hold this administration accountable for the deaths of four Americans, when clearly there were … programs in place, there were military officials in place that could have responded to this and could have saved the lives of those four people. We are bound and determined to get to the bottom of who knew what and when, and why the administration continued to deny that this was a terrorist attack — and that they denied these requests for additional security in Libya.”

Meanwhile Republican Ariz. Sen. John McCain wants to hear directly from the survivors of the Benghazi terrorist attack, to shed light on questions he says were left unanswered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s testimony to the Senate foreign relations committee Wednesday morning. McCain was asked whether he thought the survivors should be asked to provide their accounts of what exactly happened before, during and after the Sept. 11, 2012 attack.“They should certainly [do so]. If not come up to Capitol Hill, at least be identified and take their statements as to what they saw,” he said.

When asked if he was satisfied with Clinton’s answers, McCain responded, “Of course not. … If you watched the hearings, you saw me list about 10 unanswered questions.” McCain particularly wanted to know why the administration failed to respond to warnings from U.S. officials in Benghazi and said the attack was the result of a spontaneous demonstration.
During the hearing, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson criticized Clinton for not ordering State Department officials to contact survivors after the attacks to find out whether or not there were protests around the diplomatic mission before the attack. “What difference, at this point, does it make?” Clinton shot back.

Jan. 24: The Wall Street Journal: Several European governments urged their citizens to evacuate the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in response to what some described as "a specific and imminent threat to Westerners," highlighting jitters in the region on the heels of last week's deadly hostage crisis in Algeria. The U.K., like the U.S., had advised its nationals against all travel to the city after the September 2012 attacks on U.S. government posts there, which killed four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya. The foreign office, in its alert Thursday, advised any British nationals who remain to leave immediately. Germany and the Netherlands later also urged their citizens to leave the Libyan city. The U.S. reiterated a previous warning against all travel to Benghazi.

The warnings come a day after a long-awaited appearance by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Congress, where she defended the Obama administration's handling of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi and faced off against critics who said the U.S. hadn't provided adequate security there. Following the attack, the U.S. evacuated all government officials and contractors from the city.

Jan. 24: The Wall Street Journal: Secretary of State  Hillary Clinton defended the Obama administration's handling of the September terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya—as well as her overall legacy—in a long-awaited Congressional appearance Wednesday. Mrs. Clinton was by turns emotional and fiery as she faced Republican lawmakers who have pressed her for months to testify about charges that she and the State Department failed to properly defend U.S. posts in Libya despite extensive warnings about terrorist threats. Her appearances Wednesday before Senate and House committees also served as a final opportunity for Republicans and political critics to directly challenge her record at the State Department before she steps down as secretary.

She nearly wept while recounting her meeting with relatives of the four Americans who were slain in Benghazi, including the U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens. And she pounded on a table as she dismissed detailed queries from a Republican senator about what was known about the attack and the assailants in the hours and days after it occurred as well as why the administration's initial description wasn't more accurate.

Jan. 23: Politico: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended her department’s handling of the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic outposts in Benghazi under sometimes fiery questioning from Republican senators. The most pointed questions came over two hours into the hearing from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who called many of Clinton’s answers before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee “unsatisfactory.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he would have fired Clinton over Benghazi had he been president, and that her departure from State indicated she accepted the blame for the attack.

“The American people deserve to know answers and they certainly don’t deserve false answers. The answers given to the American people on Sept. 15 by the ambassador to the United Nations were false,” McCain said, referring to Susan Rice’s statements that the attacks on Benghazi were spontaneous demonstrations and not intentional terrorist attacks. “In fact they were contradicted by the classified information which was kept out of the [Rice’s] report.”

Jan. 23: FoxNews Brit Hume: Clinton dominates the Congressional hearings on Benghazi. The Congressional interrogators do what they so often do, they blew it!

Jan. 23: CSPAN: Part I | Part IIof the House Hearings. By and large Secretary of State Clinton came out of the hearings unscathed. Most of the Congressmen asked open ended questions and a list of things which allowed the witness to pick and choose which ones she was going to answer. A couple of Members, however, stand out.

The first is Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) who I know from my time on the Hill. Clinton had contended that budget restraints and the lack of funding from the Congress was one of the reasons for the inability to adequately provide for the security of our posts overseas. Rohrabacher (whose questioning starts about seven minutes into Part II above) quoted the testimony of Assistant Secretary Lamb who had said under oath in an earlier hearing that budget concerns had absolutely nothing to do with her decision as to what level of security to have at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The Congressman said that any suggestion that this was a budget issue is off base and political. Rohrabacher continued to hold Secretary Clinton to task, noting that Assistant Secretary Lamb had testified that she had watched the attack in real-time on a monitor and then he asked the Secretary if she had also been following the events in real-time and when she had talked to the President. Clinton countered that there was no real-time monitoring and that they got the surveillance videos several weeks after the attacks. Rohrabacher countered that Admiral Mullen had also indicated there was a real-time video and that it was immediately clear that this was a terrorist attack.

The second Member of Congress who held the Secretary to task was our own Texas Congressman Michael McCaul. The Congressman (whose questioning starts about 38 minutes into Part II above) talked about the August 16th cable that went to the National Security Council (NSC) and the Secretary's office noting the security issues at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and that it could not withstand a coordinated attack. He asked if the Secretary had seen the cable and who in her office had gotten it. Clinton denied that anyone in her office received the cable, that all responsibility was at the Assistant Secretary level and that to her knowledge nobody at the NSC had received it either. McCaul was disturbed that an ambassador's request for additional security that was sent to his boss (the Secretary of State) was either ignored or at least not given a high priority.

As a junior member of Congress Randy Weber of Brazoria County was unable to ask the Secretary any questions because the hearing was adjourned before the questioning got to him.

Jan. 17: CNN: Secretary Clinton to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 23rd, the same day as she is scheduled to testify at house Foreign Affairs.

Jan. 15: House Foreign Affairs: The House Committee on Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to testify before that committee on January 23rd. Texas Congressman Randy Weber is a member of that committee and we have prepared and provided him with a series of questions for the Secretary as he prepares for this hearing.

Jan. 9: FoxNews: Charles Krauthammer noted on Special Report that the first thing Secretary Clinton has to explain before the Congressional committees is why for three months after the event -- two months after the event, and before her injury -- she didn't say a word. She is the head of the department. The ambassador worked for her. He didn't work for Susan Rice. And she said the buck stops here and then she said nothing. We don't know what she knew about security before. We don't' know what she was doing during the hours -- the seven, eight hours -- of the attack and we don't know what her role was in the spinning of stories and tales afterwards.

The President's Press Secretary has said the Benghazi event has been highly politicized. "It's not political if you ask an administration to explain what happened," Krauthammer stated. "That's all that the critics have asked since the beginning. What happened before? Why were all the warnings ignored? What happened during the seven hours? The one thing that we should hear from Brennan [the President's nominee for Director of the CIA] is as the close adviser to the president on terrorism, what was the president engaged in during those seven hours? What did Brennan know? What did he tell the president? Were orders given? Were they carried out?"

Jan. 8: Huffington Post | The Hill: Hillary Clinton is likely to testify January 22nd before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but the committee has yet to confirm the date and time.

Jan. 8: National Public Radio: A man linked by officials to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has been conditionally released by a Tunisian judge due to lack of evidence, his lawyer said January 8th. The release of Ali Harzi, a 26-year-old Tunisian, appears to represent a blow to the investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The investigation in Libya itself has been stalled due to the weak central government in the face of the powerful militias, some of whom may have been involved in the attack.

Jan 7: FoxNews: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reported back to work after dealing with a blood clot. She is expected to step down as the Secretary of State later this month but has said she wants to testify on the issues surrounding the Benghazi attack prior to leaving office. As of Monday, no date has been set for her testifying before the House and Senate committees of jurisdiction but it appears that the last week in January is the most likely. Clinton has not undergone direct questioning to date on the September 11th attack.

Jan. 2: U.S. News on NBC News: A report released by the Senate Homeland Security Committee lambasted the handling of security around the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September when a deadly attack took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The 31-page report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya’s second-largest city, where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.

Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking member, said the congressional investigation found that "terrorists essentially walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment."

Dec. 28: The Weekly Standard: Secretary Clinton is scheduled to go back to work next week and to resume her public schedule but it is still not certain when she will testify on Benghazi.

Dec. 28: Fox News Special Report: White House Press Secretary said the independent panel's report "is extremely detailed. It is very critical of both inadequacies in our security and in decisions and actions that were taken. Immediately accountability has been brought to bear with regard to four individuals who are very senior." Then House Foreign Affairs Chair Ros-Lehtnen said "The truth is that nobody is out. They shifted the chairs and in fact, if you want to screw up big-time, get a job at senior levels at the State Department because apparently they don't let anybody go. Even after this terrible terrorist attack." Reporters on Special Report believe that Secretary Clinton has no choice but to testify. She doesn't want to but there are rumors Senator John Kerry's nomination to replace her could be held up until she testified on the Benghazi issue. [The above link to the transcript and video may be temporary]

Dec. 27: FoxNews: State Department officials who resigned over Benghazi are still on the payroll. House Foreign Affairs Chair says that the Department of State purposely mislead the American people. First they whipped out the story that the attack was caused by a video and then they had to fess up. Now it turns out that the four people who we were told resigned have simply moved chairs and are still on the payroll. The Chairman says that State had better not tell us they need more money for security. If they would stop spending money on the supposed climate change they would have enough money to protect our diplomats overseas!

Dec. 27: New York Post: Many Americans were incensed last week when four mid-level State Department officials appeared to take the full fall for the Sept. 11-anniversary terrorist strike in Benghazi and were forced to resign. Boy, were they wrong. It’s not that senior officials have finally ’fessed up and taken their punishment. Rather, it turns out that no one has truly been punished at all — and certainly no one’s been fired.

Dec. 27: Huffington Post: Marco Rubio: Hillary Clinton Should Testify on Benghazi, 'Explain Why Her Department Failed'

Dec. 26: FoxNews: A top Republican lawmaker chastised the State Department Wednesday following a report that a security chief said to have resigned in the wake of the Libya attack is still on the payroll, calling the response "pathetic." 

Dec. 25: The Gulf Today: In the near future the Assad government in Syria is expected to fall. When it does Damascus will most likely be a disorderly and dangerous place for U.S. diplomats. But "We need to be there," says Ronald Neumann the former ambassador to Afghanistan. "It's an important place. To understand what's going on and to make sound policy, we will need to be in contact with people on the ground. The alternative is to cede influence to Iran and Hezbollah and other people we are not fond of," he concluded. What is surprising, in the midst of calls for increased security at U.S. posts around the world, are the voices that are warning that there is such a thing as too much security. These voices are from the ambassadors themselves -- the men and women who are taking the risks.

Dec. 24: WND:Did the Benghazi Mission Violate International Law? The 39-page unclassified report released last week by independent investigators probing the Sept. 11 attacks at the diplomatic facility, says the U.S. mission in Benghazi was set up without the knowledge of the new Libyan government.“Another key driver behind the weak security platform in Benghazi was the decision to treat Benghazi as a temporary, residential facility, not officially notified to the host government, even though it was also a full-time office facility,” the report states.

Dec. 23: The Tampa Tribune (HernandoToday edition): The Benghazi Report: The first thing the administration did was damage control, diverting attention to some obscure video that caused the attack. The President sent Ambassador Susan Rice out to speak on five national news programs, declaring it was the video and not an al Qaeda-directed attack.
That was enough to quell the questions from the "Lap Dog Media" who quickly turned their attention to other non-consequential issues. However, there was a small group of journalists, some Senators and the Fox News people who kept asking the probing questions. Then, in testimony before a Congressional committee, the CIA Director admitted it was not the video but a coordinated terrorist type attack. The original assessment named al Qaeda or affiliated groups as having planned and carried out the attack.

Dec. 22: FoxNews: Piecing Together Benghazi: Clinton and Obama seem to be exempt from the questioning. But under secretaries and below at the Department of State are "dead meat"one journalist on Fox News Watch said. Another journalist said this is not a "political attack on the Obama Administration rather why four American diplomat died."

Dec. 22: FoxNews: The FBI finally interviews suspected Benghazi Terrorist, Monitored by Tunisian Judge: The lawyer of a Tunisian man suspected of involvement in the U.S. consulate attack in Libya says his client has been questioned by the FBI. Anwar Ouled Ali told The Associated Press on Saturday that his client, Ali Harzi, who has been detained in Tunisia on terrorism charges since October — was interviewed for over three hours by three FBI investigators on Friday night in a court in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

Dec. 21: Reuters: Infighting and bureaucratic jealousies between the State Department and the Pentagon may have played a role in lax security arrangements prior to the deadly attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Congressional sources said. Apparently the Department of State was uneasy over reliance on a 16-person Pentagon security unit. The team's mission was allowed to expire in August 2012.

Dec. 21: FoxNews: U.S. denied access to "multiple" suspects in custody in Benghazi terror attack. Suspects connected to the deadly terrorist attack September 11 on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi are are in custody , but U.S. access to the suspects so far been denied, an intelligence source told Fox News.

Dec. 20: Washington Post: There were 39 pages in the unclassified report of the Accountability Review Board on the Benghazi, Libya, attack of Sept. 11, 2012, there was a clear-eyed assessment of the failures that led to the death of four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. There were recommendations made to ensure that such a tragedy doesn’t happen again. And there were two words that never appeared in the report because they were not relevant to what happened that tragic night: Susan Rice. [See the Unclassified Report]

Dec. 20: FOX NEWS: A top State Department official acknowledged Thursday that cables warning of serious security concerns at the U.S. compound in Benghazi went to department headquarters – and possibly to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office – in the months leading up to the deadly Sept. 11 attack.
State Department official suggests Libya warnings went to the top
[Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) video clip with Fox News Megyn Kelly]

Dec. 20: CNN News: Benghazi Report could tarnish Clinton's legacy. The year 2012 was supposed to herald Hillary Clinton's swan song, a golden departure amid speculation that she might consider another run at the presidency in 2016. Instead, the outgoing Secretary of State has found herself and her agency at the center of a scathing report about bloody attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Dec. 18th: The New York Times: Four State Department officials have either resigned or been placed on administrative leave based upon the Accountability Review Board's report on the Benghazi attack. Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Boswell resigned. Deputy Assistant Secretary Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary Maxwell. and one unnamed official have been relieved of their duties, the Times reports. The report did not criticize more senior officials such as Under Secretary Kennedy or Secretary Clinton.

Dec. 18th: USA Today: The chairman of a committee investigating the Benghazi terror attacks said Wednesday that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to come forward and explain failures of security at the Libyan embassy, and one senator suggested there was a coverup taking place.

Dec. 17th: But ABC News reports that Secretary of State Clinton is still at home recouping from the concussion she suffered early last week. This means that Secretary Clinton will not be testifying this week at the Congressional hearings.

Dec. 17th: Reuters: Secretary of State Clinton get the secret Accountability Review Board report to read at home while she recuperates from the fall she took last week.

Dec. 16th: FoxNews reports that the Department of State released additional details about the "purported concussion" sustained by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying the incident occurred early last week at her home when she fainted and the concussion was diagnosed on Thursday.

Dec. 15th: FoxNews reports that Secretary Clinton will not be testifying on Benghazi stating that her "purported concussion" was cited as the reason. This makes two times that Clinton has dodged the bullet. The first time being when she declined to make the Sunday TV circuit shortly after the attack, and now her concussion.

Dec. 13th: Washington Times: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced Thursday that she is withdrawing from consideration as the next Secretary of State. Unfortunately, her withdrawal will only further obscure the truth of what happened during the September 11 Benghazi terrorist attack.

Dec. 12th: Washington Times: Benghazi is ten times bigger than Watergate and Iran-Contra says Iowa Republican Steve King. "I don't think the public has any idea... of the chronology of the events — what took place, and who was where doing what and why. ...We still haven't seen an autopsy report on the ambassador," King commented.
[As for a chronology, perhaps they should start here on this Website, Bill Sargent chided!]

Dec. 12th: Huffington Post/Reuters: Secretary of State Clinton is confirmed as a witness before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next Wednesday, December 20th. She will be testifying on the report about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Dec. 11th: Washington Times:The Department of Defense had live video of the attacks in Benghazi from a U.S. drone but officials say this video was made available to the White House. Administration officials have declined to respond to questions about who was actually watching the video.

Dec. 8th: RT.com: Secretary of State Clinton to testify before the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees about the report on the Benghazi attack which is expected to be released this coming week.

Dec. 8th: CBSNews | FoxNews: Egyptian terrorist leader arrested by Egyptian intelligence officers. There are indications that Mohammad Jamal Abdo Ahmed, who was arrested this week, may have been one of the terrorists linked to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi

Dec. 5th: Chicago Tribune: After a similar attack in Peru an Accountability Review Board, issued a final report "that didn't find anybody had been delinquent," former U.S. Ambassador Anthony Quainton said. That report was never made public. Whether the report by the Benghazi Accountability Review Board, expected to be completed in mid-December, comes to the same conclusion could affect the arc of a controversy that has seen the Obama White House subjected to withering criticism over security arrangements in Libya and the administration's shifting explanations of the violence.

Dec. 4th: Detroit Free Press: Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) says a new report that details how references to al-Qaeda were removed from White House talking points on the U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi is further evidence the Obama administration tried to mislead the public about what happened.

Dec. 3rd: FoxNews: U.S. risks 'another Benghazi' under Mexican rules barring agents from arming.

Dec. 2nd: FoxNews: Judge Jeannie Pirro gives a really interesting commentary on Susan Rice and Benghazi. [This is a "Must See" Video]

Dec. 2nd: CBS News: The Benghazi Timeline detailing events before the attack up through the attack itself.

Dec. 2nd: CBSNews | Face the Nation: Senator Feinstein (D-CA) says she has reviewed the over 200 threat warnings about Benghazi and the intelligence was good. "You should not be blaming the intelligence but those making the decisions," she contended. She agreed that the public talking points should not be in conflict with the classified facts.

Dec. 2nd: Kansas City Star: Split widens over the fitness of UN Ambassador Rice to serve in a higher capacity.

Dec. 1st: CoshoctonTribune [A Gannett Company]: Benghazi probe can't get sidetracked but the focus on Rice may be missing the real issue!

Nov. 29th: Google Hosted News: Republican reservations have deepened about whether UN envoy Susan Rice should be nominated as US secretary of state, with senators demanding more answers about her role in the Benghazi affair.

Nov. 28th: CBS News: Susan Rice fails to satisfy McCain and other Senators after a closed door session with them. McCain said "I am significantly troubled by many of the answers we got and those we didn't get." Senator Graham said "The concerns I have today are greater than before."

Nov. 27th: FoxNews: Benghazi revelations may threaten the White House narrative.
Ambassador Rice meets with three Republican Senators today and it did not go well.
Krauthammer on the O'Reilly Factor.

On the Record: Republicans left the meeting more troubled than before. Ambassador Bolton says from Susan Rice's point of view this meeting was a disaster. But Bolton warned GOP Senators if they want to stop the nomination of Ambassador Rice they may want to consider the possibility that they might lose and put the President in a stronger position.

Nov. 22nd: NBC News: For the first time since appearing on the Sunday TV circuit in September, UN ambassador Rice speaks out publicly on the Benghazi incident. It sounds like in her appearances in September she was reading the talking points given to her but that she really did not know anything about that which she was speaking.

Nov. 22nd: CBS News: Ambassador Rice said "I relied solely and squarely on the information provided to me by the intelligence community," she said. "I made clear that the information was preliminary and that our investigations would give us the definitive answers." But CBS News notes intelligence officials told Congress last week they knew almost from the start that Benghazi was likely the work of terrorists, perhaps affiliated with al Qaeda.

Nov. 19th: FoxNews: Nearly 100 House members have told President Obama they would oppose his nomination of Ambassador Susan Rice as the next secretary of State, saying her “misleading statements” following the fatal attacks on  U.S. outposts in Libya have caused “irreparable damage to her credibility.”

Nov. 18th: New York Times: The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will be investigating the "Benghazi Talking Points." Feinstein said she planned to investigate why the C.I.A.’s quick determination of terrorism in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, was not reflected in the “talking points” used by Ambassador Rice.

Nov. 18th: YahooNews: Senate Republicans say Ambassador Rice must testify on her Benghazi statements. It is being hinted that she may be on the short list for consideration to replace Secretary Clinton as Secretary of State.

Nov. 18th: FoxNews: Lawmakers said Sunday they want to know who had a hand in creating the Obama administration's now-discredited "talking points" about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and why a final draft omitted the CIA's early conclusion that terrorists were involved. The answers could explain why President Barack Obama and top aides, including U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, described the attack for days afterward as a protest against an anti-Islam video that spontaneously turned violent and why they played down any potential link to al-Qaida, despite evidence to the contrary.

Nov. 18th: Washington Post: [Link may require you to sign in] Law makers bicker over Benghazi on Sunday talk shows as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said “I think it’s very odd that the story line they chose omitted al-Qaeda, which would help the president enormously” three weeks before a hotly contested election in which President Obama claimed to have vanquished the terrorist group.

Nov. 17th: FoxNews: Senator Graham (R-SC): either Rice knew more than she was saying or she didn't know what she was talking about. In either case, she should not be promoted to be the voice of the United States on Foreign Affairs (e.g., Secretary of State).

Nov. 17th: FoxNews: Who edited the Benghazi talking points? The White House says don't look at us!

Nov. 16th: CNN: Ex-CIA chief Petraeus testifies Benghazi attack was al Qaeda-linked terrorism. Democrats say that Ambassador Rice was using the "unclassified talking points" which omitted mention of a terrorist attack and therefore she should not be held accountable. Republicans counter that the Administration knew the truth and failed to be honest with the American public.

Nov. 16th: Washington Post: Former CIA director David H. Petraeus told Congress on Friday that the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, was clearly an act of terrorism, but he did not resolve the question of when the agency reached that conclusion, according to law­makers who attended the closed-door sessions. Some of the law makers indicated that Petraeus believed "immediately" that it was a terrorist attack; a conclusion that ran counter to his earlier testimony before Congress.

Nov. 14th: FoxNews: President: Go after me not Ambassador Rice! But when pressed about details about what happened the President avoided answering the questions by FoxNews. Republicans vow to block appointment of Rice to be Secretary of State.

Nov. 13th: San Francisco Chronicle: The Department of Defense alerted within 50 minutes of attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi

Nov. 13th: ChannelNewsAsia:Republican and Democratic senators called for scandal-plagued CIA ex-director David Petraeus to testify about the deadly September 11 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Nov. 13th: The Daily Beast: Congressional committee wants information about General Petraeus' secret trip to Benghazi following the September 11th attack.

Nov. 12th: Politico: Even though Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his top military adviser were notified of the attack about 50 minutes after it began and were about to head into a previously scheduled meeting with the President, new Pentagon details show that the first U.S. military unit arrived in Libya more than 15 hours after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi was over, and four Americans, including the ambassador, were dead.

Nov. 12th: FoxNews: The CIA Libyan Chief of Station within 24 hours of the Tuesday September 11 attack on our consulate cabled CIA headquarters that it was carried out by militants and not in reaction to an obscure American-made Internet video that criticized Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Yet on Friday, September 14, Director of Central Intelligence, General David Petraeus, ignored his chief boot-on-the-ground and briefed the House Intelligence Committee, as described by  Vice-Chairman Ruppensberger (D-Md), that the attack was “spontaneous.”

Nov. 12th: Seattle Times: CIA Safe House just one mile from the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was a secret location unknown to Libyan Officials.

Nov. 5th: FoxNews: Bret Baier's Analysis: Two days before the election, CBS posted additional portions of a Sept. 12 "60 Minutes" interview where President Obama seems to contradict himself on the Benghazi attack. As the Benghazi investigation gets more attention and focus, CBS is once again adding to the Benghazi timeline.

Nov. 4th: FoxNews: CIA operatives had laser capability and for 5 hours and 15 minutes during the attacks the night of September 11th were wondering where the usual overhead air support was, especially since, according to this source, they radioed from the annex beginning as early as midnight asking for it.

Nov. 3rd: The Weekly Standard: The lead editorials in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal today offer stinging critiques of the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi.

Nov. 3rd: American Thinker: Why Obama chose to let them die in Benghazi?

Nov. 3rd: FoxNews: Interview with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chair House Foreign Relations Committee. Cables show the Administration lied to the American Public.

Nov. 1st: Washington Post: Why haven't the mainstream media not picked up on the Fox News coverage of the attack in Benghazi?

Nov. 1st: FoxNews: Where is the mainstream media on the Benghazi attack?

Nov. 1st: ABC News: The Benghazi drip, drip, drip!

Oct. 29th: Boston Herald: President Shows Utter Lack of Integrity and Leadership

Oct. 29th: Fox News: New information emerges about the timeline of the attack in Libya. Reports indicate that the FBI and National Counter-terrorism Center knew within two days that this was a terrorist attack but the next day a White House spokesmen stated that terrorism was not part of the calculus.

Oct. 28th: FoxNews: President skips giving straight answers by KUSA. Congressman Mike Kelly (Pa.) says he can't imagine a situation where the men on that roof made the call asking for help and it never came. "They were doing their job, why didn't we do ours?"

Oct. 28th: News day: The witness accounts gathered by The Associated Press give a from-the-ground perspective over the attack that left U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans dead. They corroborate the conclusion largely reached by American officials that it was a planned militant assault.

Oct. 26th: FoxNews: Video clips on Benghazi attack:
- Three requests to help the Americans under siege at the consulate in Benghazi were denied by high ranking U.S. government officials. No help was sent even though the attack continued for over six hours. Drones monitored the events so officials in Washington could see what was going on in real time.
- Father of Seal Team member Tyne Woods wants answers about why help was not sent. Why didn't our Government send help? Why is our Government lying to us?

Oct. 24th: FoxNews: If Barrack Obama fails in his bid for a second term as president, historians and political analysts will spend years trying to answer why and how he and his administration so badly mishandled the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Oct. 22nd: The Foundry: A Damning Indictment of State Department Security in Benghazi

Oct. 22nd: WND Commentary: It was a little much when President Barrack Obama said that he was “offended” by the suggestion that his administration would try to deceive the public about what happened in Benghazi.

Oct. 22nd: The Daily Beast: Last week, administration sources fed friendly journalists this line: "We weren't wrong about Benghazi, it really was a spontaneous reaction to the video." This week, the administration is retreating to a new line, "OK, yes it seems we were wrong, but only because our own intelligence agencies were slow to inform us of what had happened."

Oct. 19th: FoxNews: Special Report on the Benghazi Timeline

Oct. 19th: ABC News: Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have released new documents backing up claims by security personnel previously stationed in Libya that there was a shortage of security personnel in Benghazi.

Oct. 18th: Chicago Sun Times: In Tuesday’s debate, President Barrack Obama proclaimed he was offended by any suggestion that politics influenced his administration’s account of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya. "Well, Obama can shout his anger to the rooftops, but that does’t relieve him of accountability for his handling of the Benghazi incident"

Oct. 17th: ForexTV.com | Rose Garden Speech: In the presidential debate Obama maintained that he called the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi a "act of terror", which turns out to be inaccurate. The President is using a play on words.  The full transcript doesn't support his assertion. And subsequent to that speech Administration spokesmen describe the attack as being the result of the video.

Oct. 16th: Daily Caller: Obama spokesperson says President Obama takes the full responsibility for the safety of all diplomats overseas while Secretary Clinton has also taken the responsibility.

Oct. 16th: FoxNews: Senator McCain (R-AZ) stated: It is very laudable that Mrs. Clinton is willing to throw herself under the bus but first the responsibility for national security doesn't rest with the Secretary of State but with the President... There were two previous attacks on the consulate, one of which blew a hole in the wall... and the question is "What did the President know, when did he know about it, and what did he do about it?" These people at the White House are either trying to deceive the American people or they are not competent to serve.

Oct. 16th: FoxNews: Secretary of State Clinton says she is responsible for security issues related to the attack on the Benghazi consulate.

Oct. 15th: The Telegraph: British firm with little experience in-county hired by the U.S. Government to protect the consulate in Benghazi

Oct. 14th: CNN Political Ticker: "Vice President Biden directly contradicted the sworn testimony of the State Department in the debate the other night. That led to another round of kind of nuancing by the White House," Romney aide said.

Oct. 14th: Daily Caller: Obama campaign aide blames the Department of State, not the White House, for lax security at the Benghazi consulate.

Oct. 14th: Financial Times: On Sunday, they [Republicans] accused officials of deliberately misleading the public in order to play down the threat from terrorism.

Oct. 14th: Washington Post: Justice: The terrorist attack in Benghazi is starting to look disturbingly familiar.

Oct. 14th: PhillyBurbs.com: An anonymous State Department official told the Associated Press recently: “That was not our conclusion” — namely that a notorious YouTube video that lampooned Islamic Prophet Muhammad unleashed deadly mayhem upon America’s consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Oct. 12th: CBS News:Anyone who watched the Congressional hearing and then the Vice Presidential Debate last night might be scratching their head. Either the Vice President has been left out of the loop or he was ignoring the truth in search of his own agenda.

Oct. 11th: FoxNews Report Obama Administration defends Benghazi response

Oct. 11th: FoxNews Report Investigation of Security at Benghazi Consulate

Oct. 10th: CSpan: Video of Congressional hearings on the Benghazi attack (click on video link on right)

Oct. 10th: FoxNews Report State Dept. Officials grilled on lapse in Benghazi

Oct. 10th: BBC News: Security in Libya was reduced before last month's attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, even as violence worsened.

Oct. 9th: ABC News: The size and "lethality" of the attack on the U.S. consulate compound in Benghazi was "unprecedented," and "no protests before the attack" a senior State Department official said

Oct 9th: CBS News: Ambassador Steven's final moments

Oct 8th: CBS News: Romney on Foreign Policy and Benghazi Affair

Oct 5th: Time World: Has the Benghazi crime scene has been contaminated?

Sept. 28th: FoxNews Report on media bias regarding the Benghazi attack

Sept. 25th: Time World: The attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi could blind U.S. intelligence gathering in the region.

Sept 13th: CBS News: Libyan people express regret for the attack, saying Ambassador Stevens was their friend.

Sept. 12th: CBS News: Reports four dead, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi which was "sparked by hardline Muslims protesting a film made in the U.S. which insults the Muslim prophet Muhammad"

Sept. 12th: Aliazeera: Four died at U.S. Consulate. Attack linked to an amateur film deemed offensive to Islam's prophet, Muhammad, after similar protests in Egypt's capital.