TIMELINE: Hillary Clinton’s Lies to the American People, the Families of the Victims and Herself

By Raj Shah

There is a growing disconnect between Hillary Clinton’s public statements following the Benghazi terror attack and what was being communicated in private. 

New information reveals that the State Department not only knew that the attack had nothing to do with a video, but that officials were specifically cautioned to stay clear of that false narrative.

Yet despite the evidence, Hillary maintains, “I still believe to this day that the video played a role.”

During her testimony before the Benghazi committee, she blamed the contradictions between public and private communications as the result of “conflicting information we were trying to make sense of.” But, a breakdown of internal communications shows that there was a clear understanding that the video had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack. 

See below for a timeline of exchanges and disclosures that reveal the disparity between Clinton’s public comments and private understanding of events in Benghazi. 

PRIVATE	Night of the Attack, September 11, 2012 In an email to the Libyan President:  “Ansar as-Sharia [sic] is claiming responsibility.” No reference of video.
PUBLIC	10:08 PM ET, Night of the Attack, September 11, 2012 In an Official Statement by the State Department: “Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” No mention of terrorists or planned attack.
PRIVATE	11:12 PM ET, Night of the Attack, September 11, 2012 In an email to her family she said, “an Al Queda-like group” was responsible for the attack. No reference of video.
PUBLIC	9:57 AM ET, Day After the Attack, September 12, 2012 During public remarks, “Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our Embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” No mention of terrorists or planned attack.
PRIVATE	3:04 PM ET, Day After the Attack, September 12, 2012 Told the Egyptian Prime Minister the attack “had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack – not a protest…Based on the Information we saw today we believe the group that claimed responsibility for this was affiliated with al Qaeda.”
PRIVATE	6:43 AM ET, September 13, 2012 Email from Embassy in Tripoli in Libya warns officials to be careful of “messaging with regard to the inflammatory film trailer” because “relatively few [Libyans] have even mentioned the inflammatory video.”
PRIVATE	Morning, September 13, 2012 CIA analysts submitted full report. According to former deputy director and acting director of the CIA Michael Morell, “analysts thought Benghazi was terrorism from the beginning” and “never said the video was a factor in the Benghazi attacks.”
PUBLIC	September 13, 2012 Clinton meets with Libyan ambassador to the U.S. at a State Department event. The ambassador calls it a “terrorist attack.” Clinton does not and emphasizes the video, “Some seek to justify this behavior as a response to inflammatory, despicable material posted on the Internet.”
PUBLIC	September 18, 2012 Clinton asked about statement by Libyan president that attack was planned, Clinton dodges, “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has said we had no actionable intelligence that an attack on our post in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”
PUBLIC	September 21, 2012 Clinton calls events a “terrorist attack” for the first time: “What happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.”

These developments raise new questions about whether Hillary Clinton and the Obama White House knowingly mislead the American people and the families of the victims.

What is clear is that Clinton's excuses don't add up. 

 
Related: The Complete Benghazi Timeline.