The State Department on Tuesday continued to defend the administration’s early characterization of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack in Benghazi as a protest over a YouTube clip despite evidence published hours earlier by the House Select Committee on Benghazi that suggested officials knew almost immediately the attack was executed by terrorists.
“We can’t rule out that it played some motivating role,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said of the YouTube clip.
“Our initial assessment took into consideration what was happening elsewhere in the region,” he added.
The Benghazi committee’s highly-anticipated report uncovered private correspondence that conflicted with what officials were saying publicly about the attack. While the administration had overwhelming proof at the time that the attack was premeditated by extremists, officials presented the violence as spontaneous.
“After several days or a week or so, we quickly changed that analysis to better represent the facts as we knew them, that it was a coordinated attack on our facility by an armed force of extremists,” Toner said. “In any kind of situation like this, it is hard to get all of the facts right away and to present them to the American people.”
The administration now acknowledges the Benghazi attack was coordinated and carried out by a terrorist militia.
In fact, in court documents filed for the indictment of the only Benghazi suspect set to be tried for the attack, the Justice Department alleged Ahmed Abu Khattalah planned the raid in advance.
The administration has sought to dismiss the Benghazi committee’s findings as a politically-motivated attack on Hillary Clinton.
Committee Democrats attempted to downplay the majority’s report as well, releasing their own version of the report Monday and arguing the two-year investigation had uncovered nothing of significance.
