Now discredited Benghazi whistleblower Dylan Davies scored a book deal and interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” even though evidence has been out in the open for over a year that his story conflicted with claims he made in both the book and interview.
On Friday, “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan apologized and said the network was “wrong” for airing a report based in large part on claims made by Davies, a private contractor at the Blue Mountain Group that provided security at the Benghazi compound that was overrun by Islamist militants on Sept. 11, 2012.
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Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, has recalled Davies’ book, “The Embassy House,” spokeswoman Jennifer Robinson told CNN.
The retraction reportedly came after it was discovered Davies provided a conflicting account of his version of events – including where he was during and after the attack – in interviews with the FBI and in an unsigned Blue Mountain incident report provided to the State Department.
WND found, however, that all “60 Minutes” or the book publisher needed to do to discover the inconsistencies in Davies’ claims was search the Web for his last name and the word “Benghazi.”
Such a search would have found a London Telegraph article from Oct. 14, 2012, in which Davies claimed he wasn’t even in the city during the Benghazi attack.
The Telegraph reported: “Darryl Davies, the manager of the Benghazi contract for Blue Mountain, flew out of the city hours before the attack was launched.”
The Telegraph article seems to erroneously report Davies first name as Darryl instead of Dylan. A Blue Mountain receptionist reached by phone told WND the firm has never employed any Darryl Davies.
Davies has been in the news in recent days since releasing a book about Benghazi under the pseudonym Morgan Jones.
Davies gave a newsmaking interview to “60 Minutes” in which he claimed to have recounted his attempt to defend the U.S. compound. He criticized the government for not doing enough to prevent the attack despite what he said were early warning signs.
The Washington Post reported details of a Blue Mountain Group incident report it claimed was submitted by Davies to Blue Mountain three days after the attack. The report differed from the story Davies told in his book and in his CBS interview.
The incident report has been widely cited in media as evidence Davies is not credible.
Davies told the Daily Beast he did not write the report and has never seen it. The report was not signed by anyone.
Over the weekend, sources in the FBI reportedly told CBS and other news agencies that Davies also gave them a version of events that differs significantly from his public descriptions.
The Blue Mountain incident report, written in the first person allegedly as told by Davies, stated he returned to his villa immediately after the attack. Davies writes in his book, however, he attempted to reach the Benghazi compound but couldn’t do so because of Ansar al-Sharia roadblocks.
The Blue Mountain report has Davies stating he learned of Ambassador Chris Stevens’ death from a Blue Mountain guard who had secretly gone to the hospital and had taken a photo of the ambassador’s body. Davies writes in his book, however, he was the guard who infiltrated the hospital and verified Stevens was dead.
With additional research by Joshua Klein.
