WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton is firing a pre-emptive blast at her fiercest critics on the Benghazi issue, accusing them of “flat-out deceit” in her forthcoming book.
Moving to confront a lingering issue that is certain to draw attacks in any 2016 presidential contest, Clinton is training fire on Republican lawmakers who have launched a series of probes into the attacks that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the late US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
“Many of these same people are a broken record about unanswered questions. But there is a difference between unanswered questions and unlistened to answers,” she writes.
At one point, she suggests it’s unpatriotic to keep revisiting the issue in the political realm.
“Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country,” Clinton says.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently announced the creation of a House select committee on Benghazi — a panel that would likely call Clinton as its star witness.
Clinton blasts the “regrettable amount of misinformation, speculation, and flat-out deceit by some in politics and the media.”
Clinton lays out her case for what happened in Benghazi in a 34-page chapter of “Hard Choices,” her memoir that comes out next month, which was obtained by Politico and is titled “Benghazi: Under Attack.”
The pre-emptive move comes as Team Clinton has taken other steps to prepare for the expected onslaught, including retaining President Obama’s former national security spokesman Tommy Vietor.
From excerpts, Clinton doesn’t appear to add many new facts on what happened in 2012. She argues that an incendiary video was a motive for people who attacked the US facility in Benghazi, Libya — although she acknowledges that the video didn’t influence “every single one of them.”
“There were scores of attackers that night, almost certainly with differing motives,” she writes. “It is inaccurate to state that every single one of them was influenced by this hateful video. It is equally inaccurate to state that none of them were. Both assertions defy not only the evidence but logic as well.”
She also took on critics who argue the US should have done more to respond militarily.
Obama “gave the order to do whatever was necessary to support our people in Libya. It was imperative that all possible resources be mobilized immediately,” she writes.
“When Americans are under fire, that is not an order the Commander-in-Chief has to give twice. Our military does everything humanly possible to save American lives — and would do more if they could. That anyone has ever suggested otherwise is something I will never understand.”
Critics said the leak of the 34-page chapter — which slams critics and offers few new facts — was designed to minimize discussion of the 2012 attacks when Clinton hits the book trail next month.
“It’s a futile attempt to get the subject out of the way,” said Tim Miller of the anti-Hillary PAC America Rising.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told CNN: “Politically, she wants to try to spin it her way and put it behind her so she can get on to bigger and better things.”