Rush Limbaugh pushed the baseless theory that the Obama administration is trying to manipulate former CIA director David Petraeus into lying about the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya.
Limbaugh's theory revolves around the release of the information that Petraeus had been involved in an affair, which led to his recent resignation. Petraeus has agreed to testify before Congress about the attack.
On his Wednesday show, Limbaugh played audio of Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer suggesting that the administration blackmailed Petraeus to influence a September 13 congressional briefing he gave on the Benghazi attack. Limbaugh agreed, saying, “It's a reasonable thing to think [Petraeus] might have been blackmailed over this, and it's reasonable to think he might have wanted to get out from under the blackmail by resigning.”
Limbaugh went on to dismiss the notion that Petraeus' resignation means he is now “free to tell the truth” about Benghazi and claimed the White House will still coerce Petraeus into giving potentially false testimony. Limbaugh said, “I think they've still got something to hold over Petraeus.” Referring to the anti-Islam video that reports say motivated the attack, Limbaugh concluded, “If they want him to tell the story about the video, that's what he's going to tell.”
Listen:
Transcript from Limbaugh's website:
LIMBAUGH: Krauthammer was on Special Report with Bret Baier last night on the Fox News Channel.
KRAUTHAMMER: He understood that the FBI obviously knew what was going on. He was hoping that those administration officials would not disclose what had happened, and therefore hoping that he would keep his job. And that meant that he understood that his job, his reputation, his legacy, his whole celebrated life was in the hands of the administration. And he expected they would protect him by keeping it quiet. And that brings us to the ultimate issue, and that is his testimony on September 13. That's the thing that connects the two scandals, and that's the only thing that makes the sex scandal relevant.
RUSH: Okay. So, as far as Krauthammer is concerned, the Obama regime held the scandal over Petraeus' head for favorable Benghazi testimony. But now? Now Petraeus has resigned, or been pushed out, whatever is the case. So now the theory is that Petraeus is free to tell the truth and so his testimony on September 13th -- which was, by the way, “It was a spontaneously combustible little protest out there brought about by the filmmaker.”
Petraeus did say that, that he traveled to Benghazi himself and did his own investigation. Now he's been fired, or allowed to resign, because somebody who knew about this affair for a long time finally went public with it. You know, it's a reasonable thing to think he might have been blackmailed over this, and it's reasonable to think that he might have wanted to get out from under the blackmail by resigning.
So now everybody's waiting with bated breath for his testimony tomorrow and/or Friday before the Senate and/or House in their off-site, closed-door committees. And there's a bunch of conventional wisdom that's sprung to life that says, "He's gonna go in there and he's gonna tell everybody that it wasn't the video! He's gonna go in there and tell everybody it was not spontaneous-combustion protest.
“He's gonna go in there and tell 'em it was Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda was there, and they were building up, and they planned the attack, and it was for a whole bunch of reasons, but the video had nothing to do with it.” I'm sorry; that's not what I think is going to happen. I just don't think it works that way. I mean, a lot of people are holding out hope for honesty and integrity and the American way and doing the right thing.
But would somebody tell me where that's happening in our government?
Would somebody tell me where that can be relied on anywhere, by anybody, at the government level?
I don't see it.
And I think they've still got something to hold over Petraeus.
If they want him to tell the story about the video, that's what he's gonna tell.