David Brock, founder of the pro-Clinton super PAC Correct the Record stated that concern over whether Hillary Clinton mislead the victims’ families on the cause of the Benghazi attack is “phony outrage” on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day.”
Brock argued that “There was nothing new that changes the picture.”
CNN Political Commentator Ben Ferguson countered, “It was new she lied to people that family members were killed.”
Brock responded, “She talked about the fog of war, and she talked about — she’s answered these questions before. These Republicans have concluded before, unless you’re going to say they’re incompetent the way that Chairman [Rep.] Gowdy (R-SC) did, that there was no premeditated effort to mislead the public here at all.”
Brock was then asked by anchor Alisyn Camerota, “how do you explain that she had it right, she got it right in the first hours afterward, that it didn’t have anything to do with the video and there was that whole narrative for the following week that it was about a video?”
Brock responded, “If we were watching the testimony, first of all, she said there was a — an al Qaeda connected terrorist who was at first claiming credit for this and then retracted it. And what people are really missing here — there’s no cover-up. President Obama went into the Rose Garden and talked about a terrorist attack the next morning. This conspiracy theory never made sense.”
After a bit of crosstalk between Camerota, Brock, and Ferguson, anchor John Berman stated, “the one thing that was new, new information that none of us heard was this email from Hillary Clinton to Chelsea Clinton that was brought out in this hearing, let me just read you what this email says, and again, it’s irrefutable, this was new. We had not know about this before. It said, … ‘Two officers were killed today in Benghazi by an al qaeda-like group.’ That information was conveyed, David, from Hillary Clinton to Chelsea Clinton, within the hours that she released to the public a statement about what happened Benghazi. now, Ben, and some republicans on the committee mischaracterized what that statement said, also, that statement said some people are saying it was a video. Hillary clinton certainly did not say in the statement that these people in Benghazi were killed by an al Qaeda-like group. Why the omission? … Why didn’t she tell the American people in that release that some people were suggesting that our four americans in benghazi were killed by an al Qaeda-like group?”
Brock answered, “Because there was a lot of conflicting information in the moment, and as I said, and as she testified, one piece of information was someone claiming that this was a terrorist attack connected to al Qaeda, that was retracted. But this theory that goes to the question of whether the public was told the truth never made sense, because the public statements were true.”
Ferguson countered, “If you’re Hillary Clinton, you sat there and you had a blunt conversation with the president of Libya, you had a blunt conversation with the prime — with people in charge in Egypt, and you said in those emails to them, this was not an attack based on a protest, but you meet the family members and you looked them in the eyes and you tell them…that their sons died –.”
Brock then cut in, “I’m done with the phony outrage for the families.” Ferguson protested that this wasn’t “phony outrage,” to which Brock stated, Come on, Marco Rubio is out there raising money off these dead Americans.”
Ferguson said, “It’s not phony outrage when you have four caskets come off the plane with an American flag draped over them. If you call four dead Americans phony outrage, I’m sorry, that’s a new political low by you.” While Ferguson was talking, Brock chuckled and sarcastically remarked, “Right.”
(h/t The Right Scoop)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett