'Smoking gun' ties Hillary to Benghazi lies

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton replying "What difference does it make?" when asked what caused the attack on Benghazi by a Senate committee Jan. 23, 2013

WASHINGTON – Watchdog group Judicial Watch announced it has uncovered proof that directly ties former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the debunked talking points used by former U.N. Ambassador (and current National Security Adviser) Susan Rice to blame the deadly terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya on a 'spontaneous protest' over an anti-Muslim video.

Judicial Watch said a document from State Department aide Jake Sullivan included an email chain from September 29, 2012, which discussed the talking points and was sent to Clinton's secret email account.

The email was originally included in the 55,000 pages of documents Clinton provided to the State Department.

But, through litigation, the watchdog group discovered that someone at the State Department decided an email about "talking points" was not relevant to Judicial Watch’s request for emails about the Benghazi "talking points," and the email was withheld from Judicial Watch.

The State Department is still refusing to release the contents of that email, citing a discretionary “deliberative process” privilege.

But now the world knows Clinton did indeed get the memo on the talking points charade.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “Now we have smoking gun proof of Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the lying Benghazi ‘talking points’ used by Susan Rice. Only the pressure of our litigation exposed this extraordinary revelation and thwarted the State Department’s desperate cover-up of this information."

National Security Adviser Susan Rice

Judicial Watch also said the evidence uncovered shows the administration sent false version of the talking points to Congress.

A court ordered the State Department to provide Judicial Watch with the incriminating testimony after the group filed a Freedom of Information, or FOIA, lawsuit in July 2014 seeking records related to the drafting and use of the talking points.

A lawsuit forced the State Department to request emails from former Clinton Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills, Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin, and Sullivan.

Judicial Watch said Sullivan and Mills provided those documents to the State Department on June 26, but Abedin has yet to comply.

The State Department claims the release of Clinton’s Benghazi email chain "could reasonably be expected to chill the frank deliberations that occur when senior staff are preparing points or other draft remarks for use by senior Department officials in addressing a matter of public controversy."

Fitton said, "The Obama administration wants to keep this astonishing talking points document secret. That may serve the interests of Hillary Clinton’s political efforts, but it is contrary to the law and shows contempt for the people’s right to know."

A terrorist attack by Islamic jihadis on the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

A statement released by Judicial Watch said:

Even though it is known that official State Department business was being conducted, the State Department is also refusing to disclose the email domain names of Clinton’s top aides: Mills, Sullivan and Abedin.

Despite these revelations, including an acknowledgement that top Clinton aide Huma Abedin may still produce documents, the State Department requested that a federal court dismiss Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, arguing that it has executed a “reasonable” search of agency records relevant to Judicial Watch’s request.

Judicial Watch has argued that despite assertions to the contrary, the State Department has not executed a reasonable search of all documents relevant to Judicial Watch’s request. While the agency claims to have searched the 55,000 pages of records turned over by Mrs. Clinton, it has refused to recover and search the records kept by Mrs. Clinton on her secret email server. Per the Federal Records Act and other federal records laws, the State Department has a responsibility as a federal agency to obtain these records and search them in accordance with Judicial Watch’s FOIA request. The State Department is refusing to provide any information about Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of State Department records and why it never disclosed to the court or Judicial Watch that it knew Mrs. Clinton had taken government records. The State Department also refuses to take any steps to recover, preserve, and search all the emails on Hillary Clinton’s secret government email server, which contains emails from multiple State officials, President Obama, and foreign leaders.