Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Fox’s Brit Hume had some strong words for former Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) over her dismissal of the seriousness of the latest revelations in the Benghazi scandal.
After Harman said that it was time to “move on" from Benghazi Hume swiped back “ I'm talking about the talking points used on that program that day which were monumentally misleading and were, and have since been shown to be false and based on no intelligence of any consequence that we know of.” [See video below.]
The California Democrat did her best to dismiss conservative’s question about Benghazi, and claimed “ I'm Reading from the Ben Rhodes memo which I've never seen before and it said we're not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent....it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and I have called that an intelligence failure.”
Harman then continued to mock the Benghazi investigation:
And by the way, this was an intelligence failure . But it wasn't a conspiracy. And there aren't aliens in area 51 and Vince Foster wasn't murdered. And it's time to move on and focus on the problems in Libya and other problems that affect the voters.
For his part, Brit Hume called out Harman for distorting the Benghazi scandal:
There wasn't a conspiracy in the United States to mount the Benghazi attack. That's not the question. The question was whether in the aftermath of the attack when the administration sent its U.N. Ambassador out to explain it to everybody and she did so falsely that there wasn't a conspiracy to create the false talking points that she used.
I'm not talking about the CIA talking points. I'm talking about the talking points used on that program that day which were monumentally misleading and were, and have since been shown to be false and based on no intelligence of any consequence that we know of.
See relevant transcript below.
Fox
Fox News Sunday
May 4, 2014
9:23 a.m. Eastern
CHRIS WALLACE: Since you brought it up, can you explain why it was that when the House committee subpoenas all of the Benghazi document that's they didn't turn over the Rhodes memo. But when a court judge orders them to do it, they turn over the Ben Rhodes document?
JANE HARMAN: No, I can't explain it. There may be some claim of executive priviledge.
WALLACE: Is it a problem?
HARMAN: I think it's posed a political opportunity right at the moment. But let me make a couple comments on Benghazi. I know something about this. And the day after the Susan Rice appearances, the day after the event, I was meeting with some senior Intelligence Committee folks. I still advise in some capacities on boards to some of our agencies. And I think there was legitimate confusion. I agree about the point that the video was in Egypt and nobody really knew what the facts were. I'm Reading from the Ben Rhodes memo which I've never seen before and it said we're not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent. And I think that was accurate. So --
WALLACE: We didn't have actionable intelligence about 9/11. That doesn't mean it didn't happen.
HARMAN: No it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and I have called that an intelligence failure.
WALLACE: It doesn’t mean it wasn’t a terrorist attack.
HARMAN: And by the way, this was an intelligence failure . But it wasn't a conspiracy. And there aren't aliens in area 51 and Vince Foster wasn't murdered. And it's time to move on and focus on the problems in Libya and other problems that affect the voters.
BRIT HUME: You’re right. There wasn't a conspiracy in the United States to mount the Benghazi attack. That's not the question. The question was whether in the aftermath of the attack when the administration sent its U.N. Ambassador out to explain it to everybody and she did so falsely that there wasn't a conspiracy to create the false talking points that she used. I'm not talking about the CIA talking points. I'm talking about the talking points used on that program that day which were monumentally misleading and were, and have since been shown to be false and based on no intelligence of any consequence that we know of.
HARMAN: And my answer to that is no there wasn’t a conspiracy. They didn’t turn out to be accurate.
HUME: Well how did it happen?
HARMAN: I think that people made at the time their best guess at the facts.
HUME: But where did the idea that the video had anything to do with Benghazi come from?
HARMAN: Where did it come from?
HUME: Yeah.
HARMAN: I think it came from people who weren’t sure about it.
