READ: New Hillary Clinton email raises questions about Intel Community’s Benghazi info


It’s been five years since the State Department first uncovered some previously hidden Hillary Clinton emails from her time as Secretary of State, and new information continues to surface.

The email calls into question the credibility of the intelligence community’s initial assessments of the Benghazi attacks.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch recently released an email written to Clinton in 2012 after the deadly Islamic extremist terrorist attacks of Americans in Benghazi, Libya. The Obama administration initially falsely blamed the attacks on a “spontaneous” mob motivated by an anti-Muslim video. The email was written by Clinton aide Jake Sullivan. It discusses the administration’s controversial Benghazi “talking points.”

An investigation revealed that Obama officials knew, even as the Benghazi attacks were underway, that Muslim terrorists (rather than a video-motivated mob) were responsible. Also revealed was the fact that U.S. diplomats on the ground had repeatedly asked State Department headquarters for better security leading up to the attacks. The requests were denied. Instead, security was drastically drawn down. Investigators also learned that there had been a explicit threats of such an attack, as well as other attacks in Libya that were also consummated as threatened.

Key to the cover up of the terrorist nature of the Benghazi attacks right before the 2012 U.S. presidential elections were the false “talking points” used to brief Congress and the public. A series of emails I obtained in reporting on the scandal showed Obama officials excised all mention of Islamic extremists and terrorism from the final version of the talking points.

Read my Benghazi investigative reports, which were recognized with an Emmy nomination, by clicking here.

 Judicial Watch obtained the new email through a lawsuit seeking records concerning “talking points or updates on the Benghazi attack” containing Clinton’s private email address and a conversation about the YouTube video that sparked the Benghazi talking points scandal (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01242)).

According to Judicial Watch:

The September 2012 email chain begins with an email to Clinton at her private email address, “[email protected],” from Jacob Sullivan, Clinton’s then-senior advisor and deputy chief of staff. The email was copied to Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s then-chief of staff, and then was forwarded to then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications and Clinton advisor Phillipe Reines.

The email from Sullivan to Clinton is dated September 29, 2012, eighteen days after the attacks. It refers to the controversy over Obama official Susan Rice, who had appeared on TV network Sunday talk shows presenting the incorrect talking points that blamed a “spontaneous” mob. Based on the email, it appears as though someone had asked, on Clinton’s behalf, to answer the accusation that “Susan” had “made things up.” It also seems to imply that Clinton knew “the real story” (the terrorist nature of the attacks) from the start– although she immediately blamed the anti-Muslim video in a meeting with victims’ family members.

Sullivan blames the Intelligence Community for providing the incorrect information blaming the video, and says they were “unanimous” about it.

The Intelligence Community has several major black eyes on the record, including some within it falsely claiming President Trump and his associates were Russian stooges working on behalf of President Putin in the 2016 campaign.

(“Cheryl” in the email refers to Clinton confidant Cheryl Mills.)

Read the newly-released Clinton email below.

From: Sullivan, Jacob J

Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2012 11 :09 AM

To: ‘[email protected]‘ <[email protected]>

Cc: Mills, Cheryl D

Subject: Key points

HRC, Cheryl –

Below is my stab at tp’s for the Senator call. Cheryl, I’ve left the last point blank for you. These are rough but you get the point.

I look forward to sitting down and having a Hillary~to-John conversation about what we know. l know you were frustrated by the briefing we did and I’m sorry our hands were tied in that setting.

It’s important we see each other in person, but over the phone today I just wanted to make a few points.

First, we have been taking this deadly seriously, as we should. I set up the ARB in record time, with serious people on it. l will get to the bottom of all the security questions. We are also in overdrive working to track down the killers, and not just through the FBI. We will get this right.

Second, the White House and Susan were not making things up. They were going with what they were told by the IC [Intelligence community].

The real story may have been obvious to you from the start (and indeed I called it an assault by heavily armed militants in my first statement), but the IC gave us very different information. They were unanimous about it.

Let me read you an email from the day before Susan went on the shows. It provides the talking points for HPSCI [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence] and for her public appearance. It’s from a very senior official at CIA, copying his counterparts at DNI [Director of National Intelligence], NCTC [National Counterterrorism Center], and FBI:

Here are the talking points …

–The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the US Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.

-This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.

–The investigation is on-going, and the US Government is working with Libyan authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths US citizens.

That is exactly what Susan said, following the guidance from the IC. She obviously got bad advice. But she was not shading the truth.

Third, you have to remember that the video WAS important. We had four embassies breached because of protests inspired by it. Cairo, Tunis, Khartoum, and Sanaa. We had serious security challenges in Pakistan and Chennai and some other places. All this was happening at the same time. So many of the contemporaneous comments about the video weren’t referring in any way to Benghazi. Now of course even in those countries it was about much much more than the video, but the video was certainly a piece of it one we felt we had to speak to so that our allies in those countries would back us up.

The Clinton email cover-up led to court-ordered discovery into three specific areas: whether Secretary Clinton’s use of a private email server was intended to stymie FOIA; whether the State Department’s intent to settle this case in late 2014 and early 2015 amounted to bad faith; and whether the State Department has adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch’s request. The court also authorized discovery into whether the Benghazi controversy motivated the cover-up of Clinton’s email.  (The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.”)

Judicial Watch
Fight improper government surveillance. Support Attkisson v. DOJ and FBI over the government computer intrusions of Attkisson’s work while she was a CBS News investigative correspondent. Visit the Attkisson Fourth Amendment Litigation Fund. Click here.

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27 thoughts on “READ: New Hillary Clinton email raises questions about Intel Community’s Benghazi info”

  1. Regarding the stand down order, new evidence has come to light. Whistle blowers inside the US military have come forward to detail their experience that fateful evening as they scrambled to arrange resources to rescue Americans under siege. Yes, they were told to stand down. They claim the order came from the White House. Listen to their story here.

    https://youtu.be/BnBotKXBPzI

  2. Great work , as usual Sharyl. . I call your focus on why Amb. Stevens was there with 31 CIA weapons experts and 5 security people on 9/11. We have some information it was a buy back from AQ of deadly “stinger missiles” capable of civilian aircraft shoot down, that were given to AQ to bring down Qadaffi air cover. I am convinced Steven brought the money ( $Millions in cash) .with C130s to export , possibly to Syria ( Madness) . It was a set up. Stevens was over run. The millions taken, The missiles not transferred . the Cia agent threatened to sign NDA or else. It was horrible if revealed for multiple reasons , not to mention treason for hillary and barrack giving our enemy stinger missiles and it is still covered up. . I pass this to you to consider as you press forward. Maybe the puzzle pieces will fit for you.

    1. It’s way beyond treason. They wanted to cover up something that Amb. Stevens knew. It was all done to keep him from talking. He had been begging for weeks for help. At that time I’m sure he knew that he made the Clin List for assassination. How awful for him and our great Military who were forced to watch and wait. The brutal assaults and executions that were accepted and scheduled. In my opinion that administration, should have been charged and immediately made to paid for their crimes. Knowing what we do now with Epstein Island, pizza and other meal choices, drug and human trafficking, what was on the Evergiven/Evergreen when it was stopped in the shipping lanes and made to unload all the containers, How Can Anyone Support That Party. If you can’t see who they are by now maybe you shouldn’t be voting, I’ve known for 60 years that the dead come back and vote. I wonder if Illinois has ever had an honest election? ?

  3. Whoever the webmaster is for this web site needs to INCREASE THE SIZE OF THE FONT in the stories. It’s bordering on unreadable.

    1. Uh, your browser allows for YOU to increase/decrease the text size on web pages. E.g., on a Mac in Safari, look under the menu selection “View” or tap Command and the plus sign on the keyboard. Windows and other browsers do the same.

  4. So the intelligence community was politicized way because then, huh? All they had to do was call my brother in Tripoli to get the real scoop about what happened. He could’ve even been on the TV shows instead. Because of Rice’s statements the Libyan government delayed the FBI’s access by weeks.

    1. Jon – your brother, Eric Nordstrom, and Col. Wood showed real guts in stark relief to some other employees who testified recently.

  5. Admiral Lyons set the record straight before he died. He correctly reported that there was intended to be a transfer of one person for another, but the deal went south. Benghazi occurred right after the Arab Spring that ushered in Mohamed Mohamed Morsi as the Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt. The spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood was Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, otherwise known as the Blind Sheikh. He was the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was sitting in Federal prison. Morsi said when he first came to power that he would get the Blind Sheikh out of prison and back to Egypt.
    The plan, according to Admiral Lyons, was to have ambassador Stevens kidnapped and then exchanged for the Blind Sheikh. Stevens was told he was there to have the collected ground-to-air missiles sent to Syria (via Turkey). The Turkish representative met with Stevens that evening and had just left the compound. The security force guarding the “consulate” disbanded as planned, the U.S. security was a half mile away and told to stay there, everything was all set for the ambassador to be kidnapped, but it all went south. Stevens was killed, our fighters who ran to the compound were killed and/or wounded. The Navy was told to stand down and not send jets that were prepared to fly (the admiral in charge of that resigned afterward). In a well publicized photograph, Obama and Hillary watched in horror as their plan went up in flames.
    Obama and Hillary rapidly searched for a way to explain what happened and cover up their complicity. An unknown, fourth rate, cheap video was what they landed on, and the director ended up taking the fall.
    Hillary and Obama should be prosecuted and imprisoned for the damage they did that night.

    1. I agree. What is taking so long. Show me how much power the Clinton’s still have. They must have a lot of dirt on a lot on politicians

    2. I’m still hoping and praying that Obama and HRC will be held accountable for their traitorous abandonment of our fellow Americans in Benghazi. While imprisonment can’t bring back Ty Woods, Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, or Amb. Stevens, it would do the hearts (mine, for one) of many good to see justice prevail.

  6. Four Americans were allowed to be slaughtered in Benghazi by a bunch of rabid Muslims because the feckless pos clown Obumbler and lying, cheating, crooked Hillary would not send help all because there was an upcoming Presidential election and they didn’t want to look bad by admitting that “the war on terrorism” was not over as Obumbler had claimed it was. . It was all for political purposes and four Americans died. Obumbler and lying, cheating, crooked Hillary should be rotting in jail. May they eventually rot in hell.

  7. Since the embassy asked for more security, is it possible an attack was what the Obama administration wanted? We’re they trying to bury the fact that something got into the wrong hands?

  8. It isn’t a question of finding evidence against Hillary. I mean…it’s good that the evidence doesn’t stop piling up! But the problem is that the evidence it simply ignored by authorities. We already KNOW what she did! The challenge is getting ANYONE to punish her for it.

  9. The number one job of Secretary of State is to ensure the security of overseas embassies and their staffs. NUMBER ONE! As soon as Mrs. Bill Clinton lost the Libyan embassy, her first duty was to put a competent operator in her position by resigning the office of Secretary of State. Even POTUS Carter was forced to replace his Secretary of State during the Iranian hostage stand off.

  10. WHEN I FIRST HARD THIS. MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS THAT HILLARY CLINTON WONTED SOME ONE DEAD. AND THAT WAS WHAT HER ACTION SHOWED . BACK THEN WE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT HILLARY KILL LIST . OR THE MANY THAT CROSSED HER THAT ARE DEAD . AND IF THEY KEEP DIGGING IN TO THIS I FEEL SURE THAT WILL BE A THE BOTTOM OF IT ALL ( THE REASON HILLARY WONTED THEM GRATE MEN KILLED . (MURDERED ) ??????

  11. ” Also revealed was the fact that U.S. diplomats on the ground had repeatedly asked State Department headquarters for better security leading up to the attacks. The requests were denied. Instead, security was drastically drawn down.”…..They wanted the slaughter. What kind of animals are these people?…Human scum…Trash

  12. I hate that these people ran our country..The secrets they know..The information you know they sold to our enemies.These things can end America..Obama.Clinton, they’re all traitors and should be rounded up,hauled into court.
    Everything they did endangered the lives of our Military the Embassy staff..These families should all sue…

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