President Barack Obama at a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, May 13, 2013.??Under heavy political pressure, the White House on Wednesday released 100 pages of internal Obama Administration emails in which senior officials debated what to tell Americans about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
For months, Republicans have charged that the White House watered down the original CIA-crafted talking points about the attack in order to protect Obama's election-year prospects. The White House has accused Republicans of giving reporters "fabricated" versions of the back-and-forth to hurt the president politically.
The emails show that the CIA on Sept. 14, 2012 wrote a draft of the requested talking points regarding the attack, and then in later drafts on the same day removed references to al-Qaida and changed Benghazi "attacks" to Benghazi "demonstrations" all without consultation or input from the White House.
"The attacks in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo," read one phrase in the original talking points.
That was changed later that afternoon to read: "The demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo," a change senior administration officials said on Wednesday was due to the first wording being deemed an awkward account of the events.
Also, the original draft referred to "Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qai'da" participating in the attack, but the reference to extremists was later couched, and the reference to al-Qaida was removed citing the ongoing FBI investigation.
Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, expressed some concerns about the talking points, including a reference to prior attacks in Benghazi, which Nuland said could suggest security warnings were ignored and offer ammunition to their Republican critics in Congress. Senior administration officials said Wednesday that CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell had supported those changes independently prior to being aware of Nuland's concerns.
One page in the 100-page document dump includes handwritten notes from Morell, including a mistake where officials say the director accidentally redacted a bullet point.
But the emails also suggest then-CIA Director David Petraeus desired to see more information released in the talking points.
"No mention of the cable to Cairo, either?" Petraeus wrote during the CIA's edit exchange, after other mentions by the CIA of warnings about attacks on Cairo's U.S. embassy. "Frankly, I'd just as soon not use this, then," Petraeus added.
Senior administration officials on Wednesday referred questions regarding the intent behind Petraeus' emails to Petraeus himself.
The emails show the White House's claim to have requested a "stylistic" change?Benghazi "consulate" to "diplomatic post"?to be true. The White House had said, however, that this was its only role in the talking points revisions. The emails contradict that, and show the White House was actively engaged with agencies in debating the talking points' content.
The White House said Wednesday they released the emails-- presented in the same form in which they were provided to members of Congress to dispel following misinformation regarding the exchanges and allegations of a coverup.
?You can now see what the Congress has seen -- collectively these e-mails make clear that the interagency process, including the White House's interactions, were focused on providing the facts as we knew them based on the best information available at the time and protecting an ongoing investigation. After 11 hearings, 25,000 pages of documents, and now this release, we can hopefully spend our time working on what?s important ? what we can do together to ensure those serving their nation overseas are better protected than they were last September," White House spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement.
Republicans have charged that the White House played down the role of suspected terrorists in the attack, which left four Americans dead including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. GOP lawmakers have said that President Barack Obama's reelection campaign did not want to undermine its message that al-Qaida was on the run. Obama has flatly denied any attempt to deceive the public, and on Monday he called the allegations a "sideshow" that dishonors the memories of those killed.The documents released do not appear to contain references that would suggest a politically motivated coverup.
Some of the back-and-forth has centered on the email messages among top officials looking to craft "talking points" for members of Congress just a few days after the attack. The White House has accused Republicans of pushing "fabricated" messages to damage the administration.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner released a statement shortly after the White House released the emails Wednesday suggesting that Republicans would not let up on demanding more information about the federal government's response to the attack in Benghazi.
?The House interim report found that ?senior State Department officials requested the talking points be changed to avoid criticism for ignoring the threat environment in Benghazi? and that those changes were ultimately made," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. "Those findings are confirmed by the emails released today, and they contradict statements made by the White House that it and the State Department only changed one word in the talking points. The seemingly political nature of the State Department?s concerns raises questions about the motivations behind these changes and who at the State Department was seeking them. This release is long overdue and there are relevant documents the Administration has still refused to produce. We hope, however, that this limited release of documents is a sign of more cooperation to come.?
Chris Moody contributed to this report.
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