Fox News' timeline of the administration's response to Benghazi omitted President Obama calling the attack an act of terror, which he did repeatedly in the days following the September 2012 tragedy.

During the April 2 congressional testimony of former Deputy Director of the CIA Mike Morell, in which Morell explained his role in helping craft the administration's response to the terrorist attacks in Libya, on-screen graphics labelled “Fox Facts” provided a timeline of the administration's actions in 2012. The timeline claimed that the White House did not call Benghazi a “terrorist attack” until September 20, instead saying the attacks “stemmed from protests”:

Addressing the nation on September 12, the day immediately after the attacks, Obama said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America."

The next day in Colorado, Obama again referred to the Benghazi attack as an act of terror.

Then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on Sunday political talk shows September 16, and based her remarks on the “talking points” which had been written by the CIA based on intelligence available at the time. Rice made clear during her appearances that her comments were based on “our current best assessment” that the Libya attacks were not premeditated, acknowledged that the perpetrators were “extremists,” and said that future investigations and analyses by intelligence services “will tell us with certainty what transpired.” The suggestion that the attacks stemmed from protests against an anti-Islam film came from those same CIA talking points.

Fox has attempted to rewrite the timeline of the terrorism comments multiple times, repeatedly insisting that the President and the White House did not accurately characterize the attacks, even going so far as to suggest the administration was engaged in a cover-up. During the 2012 election, Fox figures blasted CNN's Candy Crowley for accurately explaining that the President had immediately described the attacks as terror, with one Fox show airing a graphic of Crowley on fire.