I never allowed politics to influence what I said or did. Never.” – Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell.
Former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell testifies. (jmanuelbalcecenata, AP)
If you watched the Benghazi hearing conducted Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, you saw Michael Morrell provide testimony as a willing partner in the cover-up of the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi attack.
You will recall that after a late afternoon 30-minute briefing on the attack by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen.Martin Dempsey, President Obama never checked back with Panetta to review the status in Benghazi, and within hours was on Air Force One headed for a fundraising event in Las Vegas
Meanwhile, Morrell, and representatives of the NSA, FBI, Defense Intelligence and the State Department, were writing and rewriting talking points to remove all mention of Al Qaeda. They knew the administration’s position on Al Qaeda and terrorism going into the election and the president was going to tell crowds in Las Vegas, and subsequently in Colorado, that “Al Qaeda was on the run, and Osama was dead.” And blaming the attack on protestors upset with an anti-Muslim video was inserted.
Then State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland and Hillary Clinton in a private exchange. (cubaninsider.blogspot.com)
Protecting Hillary Clinton was also of utmost importance. Everyone around her knew her reputation had to be squeaky clean since her aspirations for the office of the president were commonly known at the State Department. We had the first ambassador killed in two decades and Victoria Nuland, Clinton’s spokesperson at State, would have us believe she never discussed the talking points with her boss. In an e-mail she referenced concern from “building leadership” about the wording. Who else would that be?
During his testimony, Morrell said he was deeply troubled by allegations “that I inappropriately altered and influenced CIA’s classified analysis and its unclassified talking points about what happened in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012 and that I covered up those actions. These allegations accuse me of taking these actions for the political benefit of President Obama and then Secretary of State Clinton. These allegations are false.” Continue reading →