On CNN, David Brock Debunks The Conservative Media Myth That Clinton Intentionally Misled About Cause Of Benghazi Attacks

David Brock: “There Was A Lot Of Conflicting Information In The Moment” And “Republicans Have Concluded Before ... That There Was No Premeditated Effort To Mislead The Public Here At All”

From the October 23 edition of CNN's New Day:

Video file

ALISYN CAMEROTA: What was the defining moment, for you, of the hearing?

BEN FERGUSON: I think it was the two stories that Hillary Clinton told. One where she lied to the American people and said that this was a spontaneous protest that cost the lives of four Americans including the ambassador. And the private emails that she was sending to her own family, to leaders of other countries the same exact night saying this was not an attack because of a spontaneous protest, this was connected to Al Qaeda. So, why did she purposefully lie to the American people? And I think even more than that, if you listen to the family members who lost loved ones, they said she looked them in the eyes days after their loved ones had died, when they were having their caskets come of the plane on the tarmac at Andrews, and she told them deliberately to their face a lie that she knew was a lie. A lie that she wouldn't even tell her own daughter, but she looked at these families and said I'm so sorry that your family members died because of a spontaneous protest which was a fabricated story. That she looked at these family members and she told them a lie for her own political gain, that to me was the point of the night. 

CAMEROTA: David, respond to that. 

DAVID BROCK: Look, I think that there are a lot of conservatives out there, you have Erick Erickson a right wing commentator, saying that this was a waste of time. You had Fox News, that pursued this 1000 segments in the first 20 months after the tragedy, they stopped taking it live. So you have a problem when you have that, and the problem is the Republicans totally overplayed their hand, there was nothing new here that changes the picture --

CAMEROTA: But David, on that point.

BROCK: Hold on, there was nothing new that changes the picture. These questions have been asked and answered before, and nothing changes that picture.

FERGUSON: It was new that she lied to people that's family members were killed. 

BROCK: Absolutely not, no, she talked about the fog of war, and she talked about -- she's answered these questions before. Republicans, these Republicans -- Republicans have concluded before, unless you're going to say they're incompetent the way Chairman Gowdy did, that there was no premeditated effort to mislead the public here at all. 

CAMEROTA: But David, hold on a second, how do you explain that she got it right in the first hours afterward that it didn't have to do with the video and then there was that whole narrative for the following week that it was about a video? 

BROCK:  If we were watching the testimony, first of all, she said there was an Al Qaeda connected terrorist who was at first claiming credit for this and then retracted it. And what people are really missing here, there was no cover-up. President Obama went into the Rose Garden and talked about a terrorist attack the next morning. This conspiracy theory never made sense. And I think it's sad -- 

CAMEROTA: But he wasn't talking about a terrorist attack in relation to this. 

BROCK: I think it's sad that some people -- the fringe in this country are never going to accept the government's word on this no matter who it is. 

[...]

BROCK: There was a lot of conflicting information in the moment. And as I said, and as she testified, one piece of information was someone claiming that this was a terrorist attack connected to Al Qaeda -- that was retracted. But this theory that goes to the question of whether the public was told the truth never made sense because the public statements were true.

Previously

Fox News Hypes Debunked Allegation That Clinton Intentionally Misled About Cause Of Benghazi Attacks

On CNN's New Day, Ryan Lizza Explains How “Conflicting Reports In The Fog Of War” Created Uncertainty Over The Benghazi Attackers' Motivations

“Bombshell”: Fox's Kimberly Guilfoyle Hypes Debunked Allegation That Clinton Intentionally Misled About Cause Of Benghazi Attacks