WASHINGTON – In an appearance on Fox News today, U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the findings from the House Select Committee on Benghazi’s report reveals the extent to which the Obama administration’s initial public explanation of the September 11, 2012, terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Libya deviated from on-the-ground reports and the administration’s own communications following the attack.
“I don't think anyone…disagrees that there was a lot of spinning taking place during that time,” said Corker. “The Obama administration did not want it to appear that Al Qaeda was gaining ground.”
Corker, who visited Tripoli shortly after the attack, also mentioned concerns about the administration changing talking points that were used to describe the attack after removing references to the terrorist threat in Benghazi.
“I have talked to numbers of people from the agencies that are involved in intelligence gathering and other kinds of things, and I think they really rue the fact that the talking points…were changed and there was so much spin that took place between their agencies and the White House itself,” said Corker. “I think the substance of this -- we have not seen the report yet -- relative to what was taking place in Benghazi itself and what was taking place in Tripoli, where I was two weeks later after the incident, is something I look forward to reading and understanding.”
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