5 Obama Officials Who Lied, Then Lied About Lying

Last week, National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared on the Sunday shows to do what she does best: lie. She told the American public that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, for whom President Obama had exchanged five top Taliban commanders, had served with “honor and distinction.” 

That, apparently, wasn’t true. As Bergdahl’s compatriots in arms have now told the media, Bergdahl allegedly deserted his post; some evidence has even cropped up suggesting that Bergdahl converted to Islam and embraced jihad.

So, did Rice apologize?

Of course not. On Friday, she doubled down, explaining that when she said that Bergdahl served with “honor and distinction,” she was actually “referring to the fact that this was a young man who volunteered to serve his country in uniform at a time of war. That is itself a very honorable thing.”

Which is why the Obama administration would surely character Major Nidal Hassan as serving with “honor and distinction.” After all, he signed up for the military in a time of war.

Rice went even further, explaining:

I provided the best information that the U.S. government had at the time. Parts of it turned out to be wrong. I regret that the information I was provided was wrong and that I delivered it to the American people. That doesn’t make me a liar.

This all-purpose excuse has become something of a trademarked brand at Obama HQ. Rice herself has used it repeatedly, given her lies about Benghazi attacks being based on a YouTube video. Here are four other officials and former officials in Obamaland who have blatantly lied to the American public, then suggested that they weren’t liars at all:

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Clapper testified before Congress in 2012 that the NSA was not collecting “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.” Clapper later said he had misspoken, after information from Edward Snowden proved that he had been lying. “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner,” Clapper stated, later justifying that pathetic excuse by stating that the information was classified.

Attorney General Eric Holder. In 2013, Holder testified before Congress that he would not prosecute any reporter under the Espionage Act of 1917. “In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material,” he stated, “this is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.” Except that Holder himself personally approved an application for a warrant on Fox News’s James Rosen under the auspices of the Espionage Act. The Department of Justice then backed Holder’s lie, stating, “The search warrant application… was focused on obtaining evidence relating to allegations that a government official had leaked highly classified information, which was a threat to our national security.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. In March 2014, Sebelius testified that she had no information as to how many Obamacare enrollees had actually paid their first premiums. Sebelius stated angrily, “This is not Medicare or Medicaid, sir, it’s a private plan. People are buying a product in the private market. Consumers don’t pay us, they pay their insurance company, and we don’t have that information right now.” But insurers said Sebelius was incorrect.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Hillary told Congress – not under oath – that “we didn’t have a clear picture” of what had happened in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. She then said there were “no delays in decision-making, no denials of support from Washington or from our military.” And she said she had not seen requests for more security. Those statements were, at best, questionable. But Hillary’s sticking to them all, instead maintaining that she is a victim of a smear.

Apparently, it was lying when the Bush administration reported the best available intelligence about Iraq. It isn’t lying when the Obama administration knows better but lies. Glad we got that straight.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.