The airwaves and online pages are filled with assessment of the performance of Hillary Rodham Clinton before the House Oversight Committee on Benghazi. She was cool, calm and some have said, presidential, in handling the questions, the glare of the lights and the unequaled attention of the media.
Headlines scream things like “Hillary escapes unscathed.” But did she?
Mrs. Clinton’s greatest liability has been honesty and trustworthiness. As the post-game chatter looks at her every word, we’re left with one unmistakable reality. Mrs. Clinton isn’t honest.
On Sept 11, 2012, at approximately 4 p.m., she was told of the attack in Benghazi. By 10 p.m. she had talked to President Obama and released a statement indicating a YouTube video was to blame for the attack on our consulate and the death of our ambassador, Chris Stevens.
At 11 p.m., she sent a note to her family, telling them two of our officers were killed as the result of an al Qaeda-type attack. In the ensuing hours, Mrs. Clinton communicated with the leadership of Libya and Egypt, saying, and I quote “We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack - not a protest.”
A couple days later, Mrs. Clinton personally promised family members of the four dead Americans that the U.S. would fully prosecute the maker of that YouTube video … and for weeks after Susan Rice, at the time our U.S. ambassador, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton continued to repeat the YouTube video narrative on national television even though they knew the attack had nothing to do with the film.
Honesty and trustworthiness? You decide.
Immediately after the killings, Mrs. Clinton referred to Mr. Stevens as a close friend. She repeated that assertion multiple times during the congressional hearings, yet when asked, she was forced to admit Stevens didn’t have her phone number or her email. In fact, she acknowledged that during his time as ambassador, she can’t recall ever talking with her “close friend.”
Honest and trustworthy? You decide.
After making a carefully crafted statement that as Secretary of State she was ultimately responsible, she went on to stress nearly a dozen times that Chris Stevens knew the risks when he took the job. She pointed out that security decisions were not made by her, but by underlings. She was responsible, but we shouldn’t hold her accountable.
Honest and trustworthy? You decide.
Mrs. Clinton repeated what has become a stock line for her …that she has been as transparent and forthcoming as possible … yet never explained why it took her nearly two years to turn over the emails as required by law when she left office or why when she finally did, those emails were printed on paper rather than transferred electronically. Neither indicates cooperation or transparency.
Honest and trustworthy? You decide.
Mrs. Clinton’s stories have changed or been incomplete on her personal email server, her relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, who and why she deleted emails, whether or not al Qaeda was involved in the Benghazi attack and whether the Obama-Clinton State Department was negotiating with al Qaeda.
Bottom line: Was Mrs. Clinton smooth and calm during much of her testimony? Yes.
Was Mrs. Clinton honest and trustworthy?
You decide.
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