Wolf: Benghazi Question Of The Day #8 Thursday July 25, 2013 Contact: Jill Shatzen (202) 225-5136 WOLF: BENGHAZI QUESTION OF THE DAY #8 Washington, D.C. (July 25, 2013) – In today’s question(s) about the Benghazi attack, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today said instead of focusing on what happened at the consulate and annex in Benghazi, he wanted to focus on what happened in Washington on the night of the attack and days to follow. He asked: A U.S. consulate is under attack. A U.S. Ambassador is missing. A State Department Diplomatic Security Agent is dead. Are the American people to believe the president is briefed only once that entire night, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time? Where was the president the rest of the night? Did his national security team, including John Brennan, Sec. Panetta and Gen. Dempsey, ever go back and brief the president when the annex came under attack? If so, what steps did he direct at that time? Did the president ever step foot in the White House Situation Room that night? Did he ever see the footage from the unarmed drone stationed over Benghazi monitoring the attacks? Last evening, Fox News’ Catherine Herridge reported how Diplomatic Security Agent David Ubben is still recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – more than 10 months after the attack – for injuries he sustained while repeatedly risking his life to save others that night. Has the president ever called or met with David Ubben to thank him for his sacrifice? Has he ever called the others who were seriously wounded that night, including the former Navy SEAL on the security team who sustained significant injuries? To Secretary of State John Kerry’s credit, I know that he has visited with Ubben at Walter Reed. But did former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ever meet with him during the six months she was still in office after the attack? Did did the president and his team ever even consider cancelling his political fundraiser in Las Vegas the day after the attack to monitor the situation in Benghazi? That night, when the ambassador was considered a potential hostage and nearly 30 Americans were under sustained attacks at the CIA annex, did the president’s staff ever notify the campaign that he might not be leaving the White House the next day? When he boarded Air Force One for Las Vegas, did the president know about the serious injuries that some of the survivors had sustained? Did he know what hospitals they were being taken to? Is there a parallel in American history when the U.S. was under attack, Americans were killed and a sitting U.S. ambassador was considered a potential terrorist hostage, but the president was not engaged with his national security team? Wolf last week announced his plan to raise questions about what happened in Benghazi during the weeks before Congress breaks for its August recess, noting today that the House has just four days of legislative business before the break (click here for a list of Questions 1-7). When it returns in September, the one-year anniversary of the attack will be two days away. Wolf is the author of a resolution to create a select committee on Benghazi, H. Res. 36, which currently has 162 cosponsors – more than two-thirds of the majority party – as well as the support of family members of the victims, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Special Operations community and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents the Diplomatic Security agents who were at the consulate in Benghazi. For a full list of endorsements, click here. For more on Wolf’s work on Benghazi, click here. The full text of Wolf’s remarks is below. Mr. Speaker, today I am raising the eighth in a series of critical, but unanswered, questions about the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate and annex in Benghazi last September 11. My previous seven questions have focused on what happened in Benghazi that night. Today, I would like to focus on what happened in Washington. It has been well documented that official Washington started to get reports of the attack around 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It also has been well documented that then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the decision to brief President Obama about what was happening at a previously scheduled 5 p.m. meeting, which is 11 p.m. in Libya. Former AFRICOM commander General Carter Ham (ret.) told a paying audience at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado – where tickets started at $1,200 – last weekend that by the time a U.S drone appeared over the consulate shortly after 11 p.m. the attack on the consulate was winding down. He also said it was clear this wasn’t a protest and he understood it to be a terrorist attack – a direct conflict with repeated statements by the Obama Administration. If the Pentagon immediately knew this to be a terrorist attack, why did the president go to the United Nations nearly two weeks later and blame the attack on protest in response to a controversial video? Why did then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice go on five Sunday shows and attribute the attack to the video? Why did former Secretary Clinton continue to reference the video as the cause of the protest when the Pentagon immediately attributed the attack to terrorism? It is also worth asking what Gen. Ham thought of the waves of attacks against the CIA annex later that night. Trusted sources have told my office that in the weeks leading up to the attack, the annex had a notice on its bulletin board warning about imminent attacks on U.S. facilities and other foreign consulates in Benghazi. How does Gen. Ham reconcile his position that there was to send assistance after the consulate firefight ended when there was so many more attacks against Americans that night? A U.S. consulate is under attack. A U.S. Ambassador is missing. A State Department Diplomatic Security Agent is dead. Are the American people to believe the president is briefed only once that entire night, at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time? My question(s) today: Where was the president the rest of the night? Did his national security team, including John Brennan, Sec. Panetta and Gen. Dempsey, ever go back and brief the president when the annex came under attack? If so, what steps did he direct at that time? Did the president ever step foot in the White House Situation Room that night? Did he ever see the footage from the unarmed drone stationed over Benghazi monitoring the attacks? I field many of these questions from my constituents on a regular basis and I believe they are fair to ask, especially when the White House carefully orchestrates photo-ops and leaks of the president and other senior administration officials when the news is favorable, like the now-famous picture of the president and his national security team watching a live video feed of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in 2011. Last evening, Fox News’ Catherine Herridge reported how Diplomatic Security Agent David Ubben is still recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – more than 10 months after the attack – for injuries he sustained while repeatedly risking his life to save others that night. Fox reported that it was Ubben who ran into the burning consulate building to retrieve Sean Smith’s body. Fox reported it was Ubben who later that night climbed the roof of the annex compound with Ty Woods and Glen Doherty to try to defend the annex during the morter rounds, where he sustained a very serious injury that is still being treated at Walter Reed. Contrast David Ubben’s valiant efforts – repeatedly putting his life on the line to try to save the lives of the other Americans at the consulate and annex – with what is currently known about what the White House national security team did to support him and the others in Benghazi. As far as the American people know, after nearly a year of investigations, the White House took no additional efforts to come to the aid of those in Benghazi, nor, apparently, did the president take another briefing on what was happening. Has the president ever called or met with David Ubben to thank him for his sacrifice? Has he ever called the others who were seriously wounded that night, including the former Navy SEAL on the security team who sustained significant injuries? To Secretary Kerry’s credit, I know that he has visited with Mr. Ubben at Walter Reed. But did former Secretary Clinton ever meet with him during the six months she was still in office after the attack? Either way, the families of the four Americans – including a U.S. Ambassador – who lost their lives in Benghazi have a right to know where the Commander-in-Chief was on September 11, 2012 and what role he and his national security team played to provide support to those in Benghazi that night. The State Department’s own Web site asserts, “International rules do not allow representatives of the host country to enter an embassy without permission – even to put out a fire – and designate an attack on an embassy as an attack on the country it represents. In this context, with an attack against America underway, it’s fair to ask, did the president and his team ever even consider cancelling his political fundraiser in Las Vegas the next day to monitor the situation in Benghazi? That night, when the ambassador was considered a potential hostage and nearly 30 Americans were under sustained attacks at the CIA annex, did the president’s staff ever notify the campaign that he might not be leaving the White House the next day? When he boarded Air Force One for Las Vegas, did the president know about the serious injuries that some of the survivors had sustained? Did he know what hospitals they were being taken to? Is there a parallel in American history when the U.S. was under attack, Americans were killed and a sitting U.S. ambassador was considered a potential terrorist hostage, but the president was not engaged with his national security team? I think most Americans would agree that they are legitimate questions that deserve a straightforward and truthful answer. With only four legislative days remaining before the Congress departs for August recess, I am increasingly concerned that this question, as well as the other questions I have raised in the last two weeks, will not be answered by the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attacks. That is deeply disappointing. Congress can – and should – do better. I continue to believe the only way to get answers through a House Select Committee. H.R. Res 36 has 162 cosponsors, a majority of the Majority. Two new cosponsors joined in the past week alone. This is the way to go so the Congress and the American people know the truth, whatever it may be. wolf.house.gov/press-releases/wolf-benghazi-question-of-the-day-8/
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 00:40:17 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015