Hillary
Clinton's Benghazi emails contain few revelations: sources
Send a link to a friend
[April 29, 2015]
By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cache of Hillary
Clinton emails expected to be made public soon contains no support for
Republican accusations that Clinton was involved in efforts to downplay
the role of Islamic militants in the deadly 2012 attacks on U.S.
installations in Benghazi, Libya, people familiar with the emails said.
|
Two people familiar with the material said this week that the 300
emails do not demonstrate that Clinton, who was secretary of state
at the time of the attacks, was personally involved in decisions
that resulted in weak security at the Benghazi outposts.
The State Department is expected to make public this week or next
Clinton emails about Benghazi that it turned over in February to a
Republican-led panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks at
the U.S. diplomatic mission and a nearby CIA base. U.S. Ambassador
to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed
in the attacks.
Most of the emails were sent from Clinton's Blackberry and were
cryptic, with few running longer than three or four sentences, said
the sources, who requested anonymity.
Some showed Clinton exchanging correspondence with other State
Department officials regarding security for a Libyan election that
took place in June 2012. But there was no evidence Clinton held
detailed discussions about security at U.S. installations in
Benghazi in the months before the attacks, the sources said.
David Kendall, Clinton's lawyer, declined to comment on the emails.
Some Republicans have charged Clinton's State Department failed to
protect diplomatic personnel in Benghazi. In testimony on Capitol
Hill in January 2013, Clinton said there had been no effort by the
administration to mislead the public.
Democrats have accused the Benghazi panel, led by Republican
Chairman Trey Gowdy, of pursuing a politically motivated campaign
against Clinton, the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic
presidential nomination. A spokesman for Gowdy did not respond to an
email requesting comment.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/richardson_lda_040113.png)
Gowdy's committee is also probing why the Obama administration
claimed for days that the attacks were a spontaneous protest against
an anti-Islamic film posted on the Internet, even though
intelligence indicated within hours that the attacks were the work
of Islamist militia members.
The emails show Clinton received updates about the situation in
Benghazi after the attacks and about possible U.S. responses, the
sources said. But they do not indicate Clinton was involved in
steering the administration's public response away from the notion
that organized militants had carried out the attacks, they said.
Clinton has been asked to testify to the special panel convened to
investigate the attacks.
The 300 emails are a fraction of approximately 30,000 emails Clinton
has given the State Department, which are still being reviewed for
release. Republicans have criticized Clinton for using a private
server for work emails while she was secretary of state.
Clinton has said she used her personal email account for convenience
because she did not want to carry two email devices.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by John Whitesides, Caren
Bohan)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |