Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., charged during a radio interview on Sunday that Hillary Clinton was “dishonest” during her testimony before a Senate hearing on Benghazi.
During the Benghazi hearing in March 2013, in response to a question from Paul, Clinton stated she did not know whether the U.S. mission in Libya was procuring or transferring weapons to Turkey and other Arab countries.
Clinton further asked Paul to inquire with the “agency” that ran the CIA Annex in Benghazi for more information.
Paul rehashed that exchange speaking Sunday on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM and online.
“The Clintons aren’t famous for revealing information. They are mostly famous for hiding information,” Paul scoffed.
The 2016 presidential contender continued: “And no. No information was ever revealed to me. But also in that exchange, she indicated that she had no knowledge of any of this going on. It wasn’t just that I should talk to the CIA. She indicated that she had no knowledge of this. And I believe that to be dishonest. I think she did have every bit of knowledge of what was going on.”
Paul told Klein he believes the U.S. collected weapons from Libyan jihadists and shipped them to Syrian rebels.
He stated: “And what I believe was happening is, there were 15,000 surface-to-air missiles. MANPADS that were missing after [Libyan leader Muammar] Gadhafi was toppled. Many of these went into the hands of radical jihadists. And this was one of the bad effects of Hillary’s war in Libya.”
“But the other thing they were doing is the weapons they could capture and get out of the hands of those in Libya they were turning around and sending them to jihadists in Syria. So it was a really foolhardy plan. And it continues to this day. You have people advising that we should be giving weapons to the allies of al-Qaida in Syria.”
Klein asked Paul whether he thinks Clinton should face legal consequences if it is alleged that she lied to lawmakers during the Benghazi hearing.
“I don’t think we should allow our public officials to lie in committee,” the senator replied. “James Clapper came to the senate and lied and said they weren’t collecting telephone records. Hillary Clinton comes and acts as if she didn’t have any idea what the CIA was doing in Libya. I think that was disingenuous at the very least.”
In the hearings over the Obama administration’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Paul asked Clinton: “Is the U.S. involved with any procuring of weapons, transfer of weapons, buying, selling, anyhow transferring weapons to Turkey out of Libya?”
“To Turkey?” Clinton asked. “I will have to take that question for the record. Nobody has ever raised that with me.”
Paul replied: “It’s been in news reports that ships have been leaving from Libya and that may have weapons, and what I’d like to know is the annex that was close by, were they involved with procuring, buying, selling, obtaining weapons, and were any of these weapons being transferred to other countries, any countries, Turkey included?”
Clinton shot back: “Well, Senator, you’ll have to direct that question to the agency that ran the annex. I will see what information is available.”
“You’re saying you don’t know?” asked Paul during the exchange.
“I do not know,” Clinton said. “I don’t have any information on that.”
