The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes is reporting that several more ‘whistleblowers’ want to come forward to testify under oath about Benghazi.  The Blaze also reports:

[…] Joseph diGenova, attorney for acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Counterterrorism Mark Thompson, did not specify how many new witnesses there were, but said they had been “on the ground” and “in the fight” during the September assault that left four Americans dead. Thompson was one of three whistleblowers who went before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.  (link)

(Via Mediaite)  NBC’s Lisa Myers told panelists on The Morning Joe yesterday that Benghazi is starting to worry Democrats. NBC Reporter Kelly O’Donnell read from portions of emails in which high ranking State Department officials coordinated with the CIA to alter the official talking points on the Benghazi attack to remove any references to prior warnings or Islamic terrorism.

“This is quite the window into what is usually the hush-hush process about how to deal with these types of attacks and the spin that irrevocably comes afterwards,” NBC reporter Luke Russert opined. (more…)

Many people have noted the general discomfort yesterday exhibited by Jay Carney as he twisted himself into contortions while using seemingly inexhaustible obfuscation.

However, what is lesser known was the backstory prior to the “official” briefing.

The originally scheduled White House press briefing was supposed to take place at 12:30pm.  However, just before start time, the ABC exclusive report containing the secret Benghazi e-mails hit the wire….  The White House delayed the briefing til 1:45pm and pulled select media in for a closed “off record” briefing.

Then word hit of the “propaganda ‘off the record’ briefing”, and the White House pushed it back further, until 3:15pm…  Getting all their Ducks in a row.   The Huffington Post reports on the fiasco: (more…)

WASHINGTON DC – The State Department contributed to heavily editing talking points surrounding the attacks that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya, leading to the removal of references to terror groups and CIA warnings about threats in the region, according to emails and documents obtained by ABC News.

The ABC News report says that the White House and State Department were informed by intelligence officials that the CIA was aware of potential threats to the Libyan consulate from terror groups before the attacks. But the report said references to those threats were removed from the final version of the talking points used by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice because of pressure from the State Department.

According to the network, “12 different versions of the talking points” indicate extensive editing was done after they were first drafted by the CIA.

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Rice appeared on Sunday news shows following the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks and argued they were a spontaneous reaction to a video deemed offensive to Islam. The administration later admitted Rice’s claim was made with insufficient intelligence, and labeled the event an act of terror. (more…)

ABC News obtained an ad the Republican National Committee (RNC) made last fall and approved to air in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. But they never used it…..

A source familiar with the creation of the ad says the RNC leadership approved the ad but it was scrapped at the last minute because of objections from the Romney campaign, which was concerned the ad would distract from Romney’s efforts to focus on the economy.

Romney was too afraid to win?

Washington, D.C.). Three families of Navy SEAL Team 6 special forces servicemen, along with one family of an Army National Guardsman, will appear at a press conference on May 9, 2013, to disclose never before revealed information about how and why their sons along with 26 others died in a fatal helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011, just a few months after the successful raid on the compound of Osama Bin Laden that resulted in the master terrorist’s death.

 DATE: MAY 9, 2013

PLACE: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (HOLEMAN LOUNGE)

Accompanying the families of these dead Navy SEAL Team 6 special operations servicemen will be retired military experts verifying their accounts of how and why the government is as much responsible for the deaths of their sons as is the Taliban.

The areas of inquiry at the press conference will include but not be limited to: (more…)

We’re reviewing notes from the Benghazi Hearings but wanted to put the initial media take together for review:  This is the Greg Hicks portion – including his statement for the record recounting his experience on the day/night of Sept 11th 2012

(more…)

Like much of President Downgrade’s tenure the Syrian fiasco is one of insufferable consequences resulting from a ‘lead from behind’ strategy.

The window of opportunity for the U.S. to take action passed two years ago when the actual Syrian people, the ordinary freedom citizens, were crying out for help.  Over the course of the two years that followed those ordinary voices have been overrun by extremists who jumped into the vacuum created by a lack of action.

Now Syria has devolved into a brutal Assad regime being fought by an even more brutal group of al-Qaeda extremists, while supported by Egypt and Muslim Brotherhood elements.   The ordinary freedom movement is hiding amid destroyed homes, broken glass, and blood stained curtains.

Syria is Obama’s Iran 2.0 deja-vu.   In Iran 2009, the “Green Movement” suffered a similar fate to the ordinary Syrian seeking freedom.   President Obama ignored them both when the window was open – In Iran the Islamic iron gates locked down the opening, in Syria the same is taking place. (more…)

Something is totally FUBAR with this reporting. I can’t figure out where the disconnect is yet. See the bottom after the article:

(more…)

“red rover, red rover, the truth’s coming over”…

WASHINGTON DC – On the night of Sept. 11, as the Obama administration scrambled to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a key aide effectively tried to cut the department’s own counterterrorism bureau out of the chain of reporting and decision-making, according to a “whistle-blower” witness from that bureau who will soon testify to the charge before Congress, Fox News has learned.

That witness is Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s counterterrorism bureau. Sources tell Fox News Thompson will level the allegation against Clinton during testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. (more…)