Rohrabacher: Administration Lied to American People About Benghazi

On Thursday, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) accused the Obama administration of lying to the public during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing to investigate the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Lybia. 

In that hearing, Rohrabacher said pointedly: “The administration has lied to the American people about this tragedy. The arrogance and dishonesty in all of this is breathtaking. Let’s not stonewall the issue and cover up mistakes, which is what seems to be going on today.” 

Rohrabacher’s sentiment is broadly shared by Republicans throughout the House, who wonder how the differing reports concerning Benghazi provided by the FBI, the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice can be explained. 

On September 13th, the FBI and NCTC described the attacks as premeditated. On September 16th, Ambassador Rice contradicted the FBI and NCTC by claiming the White House had “no information to suggest that it was a preplanned attack.”

Rice is not without her defenders. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Thursday that he believes she spoke from the intelligence community’s “best assessment at the time” when she credited the Benghazi attacks to a YouTube video offensive to Muslims five days after the murder of Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.