Tapper: Hillary will have to answer Benghazi questions if she runs in 2016

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Curt ( 3 comments already! )

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Ed Morrissey:

Alternate headline: Jake Tapper removed from debate moderator consideration. Yesterday, Jake Tapper discussed with Hugh Hewitt the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Hillary Clinton as she considers whether (or when) to jump into the 2016 presidential race. Tapper figures that either the Clinton campaign will have to produce a comprehensive explanation of the fiasco in Benghazi and Hillary’s role in it, or get plagued with questions all through the campaign:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/dB-fKp-60Hk[/youtube]

HEWITT: I want to get, you’re always show prep for me, Jake. You’re on in the background here, and so you had A.B. Stoddard, Van Jones, and Kevin Madden on today. And you were talking about Hillary. And I think that whenever Hillary comes up, and a partisan like Van, and I’m a partisan for the Republicans, so it’s okay to be a partisan, is sitting there, the question has to be answered by them. Where was Hillary on the night of Benghazi? And what was she doing? Because the Kirkpatrick piece on Benghazi from last week that stirred up everything didn’t even talk about Hillary. How in the world does she run with the Benghazi timeline on the Etch-a-Sketch that’s been shaken?

TAPPER: I don’t — obviously she can’t. I mean, if she makes the decision to run, there will have to be — and I’m sure her advisers know this, they are smart people — there will have to be some . . . questions answered about it, if not in one big, long, meaty piece then I think over and over and over again. I think it is something that there are a lot of questions that remain about it. For me specifically, you know my coverage of Benghazi has focused on the State Department’s refusal to take seriously enough the request for added security from diplomatic and security experts on the ground in Libya throughout the year leading up to the Benghazi attack. So there are a lot of questions, and I’m sure if she runs she’ll have to answer them.

I’m … not so sure. If Tapper represented the average campaign journalist, then I’d agree, but that’s not the reality of either the White House press corps or campaign coverage in general. The latter mostly consists in spot reporting, organizational analysis, and polling data, not lengthy narratives about issues from a candidate’s past.

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Ronald J. Ward

10 years ago

It’s true that Hillary will have to answer questions pertaining to Benghazi if she runs. Duh!

But it’s also true that TeaPublicans are going to have to answer to their fake scandal and why they’re still beating this dead horse despite Hilliary being exonerated of any negligence.

Yeah, keeping debunked issues alive can give an edge but the baggers are going to someday have to quit crying wolf and come up with a constructive leadership agenda if they want to be taken serious for a seat at the Oval Office.

retire05

10 years ago

@Ronald J. Ward:

Ignore the pictures of the flag draped coffins. Those four dead Americans are nothing more than a “fake” scandal to brain dead liberals. You know, like Brian Terry, and hundreds of Mexicans, are nothing more than a “fake” scandal.

What was the word you used before, RJW? Nothingburgers?

I do not understand someone who would defend Obama anymore after all the “scandals” we have seen coming from his administration. Perhaps you would like to explain what he has done that creates such loyalty for him from you?

Ditto

10 years ago

Poll: Majority Want Benghazi Select Committee

A poll released by Democratic pollster Pat Caddell and Republican pollster John McLaughlin shows that a vast majority of American voters want a special select committee to investigate the Benghazi scandal. However, House Speaker John Boehner is denying them a shot at it. (snip)

…”In a recent national poll, conducted by Democrat Pat Caddell and Republican John McLaughlin, 62% of Americans say it is important that Congress create a special committee to get to the truth about Benghazi,” Roth told Breitbart news in an email over the weekend before the letter became public. “A large majority of House Republicans agree. The American people understand that if Republican leaders allow the Obama Administration to cover up its negligence that led to unnecessary deaths of Americans, it would be a crime. We will continue to apply pressure on House leadership until they create a select committee.”

Roth’s group’s poll was released in late October and showed that 62 percent of voters believe that congressional leaders should create a select committee on Benghazi, whereas only 32 percent think such a procedure is not important. More specifically, 83 percent of GOP voters and 58 percent of independents support a select committee, while 50 percent of Democratic voters oppose a select committee. A majority of self-identified moderate voters, 53 percent, want a select committee as well.

Unfortunately, Establishment Republican leaders don’t seem to be dragging their feet, and going so far as to show scorn for the victim’s families. (According to an unnamed GOP aide):

Pat Smith, the mother of murdered Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, and Charles Woods, the father of murdered security officer Tyrone Woods, along with Smith’s uncle Michael Ingmire, joined scores of conservative movement leaders in demanding Boehner install a select committee.

A bill that would do so is sitting in the House with 179 cosponsors including lead sponsor Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), more than a substantial majority of the House GOP conference. Boehner, Cantor, and McCarthy will not schedule a vote on the matter, despite overwhelming support from the conservative. Snip)

…“These complaints are absurd and factually inaccurate,” the anonymous GOP leadership aide said. “The committees’ efforts are coordinated by a full-time leadership staffer, administration witnesses have testified publicly and privately, and the committees have both professional investigators and subpoena authority.”

Boehner aide Michael Steel added that Boehner wants to still investigate Benghazi. “House Republicans are committed to finding the truth about what happened in Benghazi and why the White House failed to level with the American people,” Steel told Bedard.