Lee Statement on House Oversight Committee Hearing on Benghazi Attacks

October 10, 2012

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Lee made the following statement in response to the House Oversight Committee's hearing today on the September 11 Benghazi attacks:

“I am tremendously disappointed by press reports that suggest the Obama administration relayed incomplete or inaccurate information to the American people following the attack at our embassy in Benghazi. While representatives of the White House went before the American people to describe the attacks as ‘spontaneous’ and the unfortunate result of protests over an anti-Islamic video on YouTube, the State Department says that it never believed that account, and did not reflect the information they were sending to the White House.
 
“The variance in accounts of the State Department and the White House is disturbing evidence of one of two things: either the White House never received the proper intelligence, showing gross ineptitude and major flaws in national security policy, or the White House actually had valid intelligence from the time the events occurred but willfully attempted to mislead the American people.  While the forthcoming evidence points to the latter, both possibilities show a tremendous failure of leadership and I look forward to reviewing the testimonies of State Department officials at todays hearing of the House Oversight committee.”