U.S. Representative and member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee Jason Chaffetz traveled to Libya and upon returning made it known that the video that was blamed for the Benghazi attack was never mentioned to him while he was there.
Rep. Chaffetz said,
“I wish that I could tell you everything that I learned. I did go to Libya, I did drop everything. I had the same type of notice that was given to the Democrats. In fact, the State Department sent an attorney to follow me in my every footstep … I wish that I could share everything that I learned there … It’s been too hard, too difficult to get basic information. I will tell you, though, that when I was in Libya — good part of the day — never once did a person ever mention a video. Never. And I am fascinated to know and understand from the President of the United States, from the Secretary of State, and from the Ambassador to the United Nations how they can justify that this video caused this attack. It was a terrorist attack. Let’s be honest.”
Chaffetz believes there was a “coordinated effort” between the White House and the State Department to scale down security precautions in Libya prior to the attacks on the consulate.
In an interview on Fox News, Chaffetz was asked if he had proof. He said that it was his “strong opinion.”
“I’ve been diving into this, I’ve talked to the people who are going to testify, I’ve been on the ground in Libya, that’s my impression,” he said.
He also claims there were multiple warning signs that the administration should have noticed and heightened security measures in Benghazi.
“You’ve got to understand this was a very tumultuous situation; twice in the lead-up to this, to their attack on 9/11 [2012], our compound in Benghazi was bombed. Twice the British ambassador had an assassination attempt. We were moving into 9/11 and now the White House wants to say we had no direct information, no actionable intelligence — are you kidding me?” said Chaffetz.
He said, “Between the White House and the State Department … they need to interact together, clean up the statements that they’ve made, fix these problems so they never, ever happen again.”
