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've decided to reprint a piece of work I did nearly five years ago, because it seems very relevant today given Hillary Clinton's performance in the Benghazi hearings. Back in 2008 when she was running for president, I interviewed two erstwhile staff members of the House Judiciary Committee who were involved with the Watergate investigation when Hillary was a low-level staffer there. I interviewed one Democrat staffer and one Republican staffer, and wrote two pieces based on what they told me about Hillary's conduct at the time. I published these pieces back in 2008 for North Star Writers Group, the...

White House: Clinton’s 'Signature' on Benghazi Docs Doesn't Mean She Knew of Them April 25, 2013 By Fred Lucas (CNSNews.com) – The White House dismissed the signature of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on documents ignoring security concerns in Benghazi, calling it “protocol” for government official “signatures” to appear on documents they did not sign. “It is standard protocol that cables originating from the department in Washington go out under the authority of the current Secretary of State with their signature, i.e. their name, typed at the bottom,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday, using his fingers...

NBC and ABC completely skipped a scathing new report that singles out Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for blame after the September 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. CBS, in contrast, offered full reports on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Evening News anchor Scott Pelley announced, "House Republicans fired off a blistering report today criticizing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton." On CBS This Morning, Norah O'Donnell trumpeted, "House Republicans issued a scathing report on the Benghazi attack. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed last September." Yet, the ABC programs World News, Nightline and Good Morning...

The White House accused Republicans of a political distraction Wednesday after House committee chairmen asked President Obama to release a State Department cable that they said would prove Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary off state, signed off on security cuts at the diplomatic post in Benghazi ahead of the attack Sept. 11. According to the committee chairmen, the April 2012 Clinton cable denies the U.S. Embassy in Libya’s request for more security. Five months later, the outpost in Benghazi was attacked and four Americans were killed, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Security reduction at Benghazi were approved at the highest level including Hillary Clinton. White House and senior State Department persons altered accurate talking points to protect State Department from inaccurate security at Benghazi

House Republicans have concluded that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was responsible for cutting security at the consulate in Benghazi ahead of last year’s attack there, and that the administration lied about why it downplayed terrorism as the cause of the assault. A new report — the result of months of investigation by five different House committees — says there was plenty of intelligence that presaged the attack, but the State Department and President Obama failed to heed the warnings or give the Defense Department the authority to respond to such an attack. The report exonerates the Pentagon itself,...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday unveiled a report on last's year attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that blames then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for lapses in security. The 46-page report by the five committees of jurisdiction concludes that reductions in security levels prior to the attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, including by Clinton herself.

Neither the secretary of defense nor the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to the secretary of state during the 8-hour attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012. At a Thursday hearing in the Senate, Republican Ted Cruz asked both Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey, "In between 9:42 p.m., Benghazi time, when the first attacks started, and 5:15 am, when Mr. Doherty and Mr. Woods lost their lives, what converations did either of you have with Secretary Clinton?" "We did not have any conversations with Secretary Clinton," Panetta responded. "And General Dempsey, the...

WASHINGTON DC – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, answering questions on the attack in Benghazi, Libya. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) pressed her on the anti-Islamic video that was originally blamed for the attack. “When you briefed us, you said unequivocally this was a result of a video and I remember in fact you got pretty upset about it when somebody suggested this was a terrorist attack.” Clinton said, “I did not say … that it was about the video for Libya, it certainly was for many of the other places where we...

**SNIP** But Clinton’s testimony before House and Senate panels is likely to be mostly forward looking, said National security expert Rudy deLeon. “What we are expecting to hear, in the secretary’s own voice, is the plan she has to reinvigorate and enhance diplomatic security services," he said. "What we are reminded of is how delicate the security situation is, and how attentively we need to stay focused.” Will the Benghazi attack be a permanent and defining stain on Clinton’s tenure at the State Department? Former U.S. NATO Ambassador Robert Hunter does not think so. “I do not think her image...

Next week, four months after terrorists killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will finally testify in congressional committees about what happened that day. Since Sept. 11, the Defense Department has released a timeline of that day, the Senate Homeland Security Committee has released a report, and a State Department "Accountability Review Board" set up by Clinton herself has published its own analysis. But the composite story derived from these sources raises more questions about Clinton's role on 9/11/12 than it answers. In fact, these sources cite no action at all personally taken by Clinton. Here...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who returned to work Monday after a month-long illness, is expected to testify before the House and Senate committees regarding the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya when both chambers are back in session the week of Jan. 21, sources said Tuesday. “My sense is, her hearing probably will take place the morning of the 22nd,” the incoming ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday. Corker said he had had “some very good conversations with her chief of staff” and that Clinton appeared “anxious to...

By SARA MURRAY WASHINGTON—Ambassador Susan Rice's attempt to repair her standing with Senate Republicans fell short Tuesday, as a trio of GOP senators emerged from a meeting with her even more harshly critical of the comments she made following the U.S. consulate attack in Libya. Ambassador Susan Rice's attempt to repair her standing with Senate Republicans appeared to fall short Tuesday, as a trio of GOP senators remained harshly critical of comments she made following the U.S. consulate attack in Libya. Sara Murray has details on The News Hub. Photo: AP. Susan Rice meets with three GOP senators who have...

Remember when Hillary Clinton unexpectedly suffered from a concussion due to a stomach flu a few weeks ago? She missed her scheduled testimony on the Benghazi attacks, she missed the appointment of John Kerry… she even missed the State Department Christmas Party… so where in the world is she? According to her advisors, she has been advised to take bed rest, but she hasn’t been seen or heard from in weeks. The problem here is that is seems like she’s avoiding her responsibility as Secretary of State. It’s all too strange that she hasn’t said anything about the Benghazi attacks…...

WASHINGTON — An independent inquiry into the attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11 sharply criticizes the State Department for a lack of seasoned security personnel and relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound, Congressional and State Department officials said Tuesday night. The investigation into the attacks on the diplomatic mission and C.I.A. annex that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others also faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests from officials at the American Embassy in Tripoli for more guards and safety upgrades to the...

An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management and leadership failures at the State Department led to "grossly" inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi. "Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the panel said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted all 29 recommendations in a report into a deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The report found that systemic failures at the state department led to insufficient security at the consulate. But it found no individual official ignored their duties, and the review has not suggested disciplinary action. The 11 September attack saw Ambassador Christopher Stevens, as well as three other Americans, killed.

Clinton gets accountability report on Benghazi attacksBy Andrew Quinn Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:18pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday received an official review of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, setting the stage for testimony on an incident that prompted a political furor and sharp questions about security at U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas. **SNIP** The committee has been meeting in private and State Department officials have declined to discuss almost all specifics of the Benghazi attack pending its reports. The findings are expected to cover questions on whether enough...

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepares to testify on Capitol Hill next week about last September’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, a Republican lawmaker is urging her to cut aid to Tunisia over its refusal to allow the FBI to talk to the only known detained suspect in the attack. Speaking on the U.S. House floor Wednesday, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) accused Tunisian authorities of hampering the FBI’s investigation into the attack in Libya’s second city, during which U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. …

“Secretary Clinton had originally been asked by networks to go on. She declined to do it.” -- Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, talking to NBC News. The Obama Democrats are today furious at the opposition of Republicans that ended the bid of presidential favorite U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Rice, a stalwart retainer of the House of Obama, knows that Clinton, the matriarch of the rival Democratic clan, let the ambitious ambassador take the fall. - But this would be sort of like being upset at the bear that...