White House rushed to tie another video to Benghazi attack

President Obama and Secretary Clinton at the Transfer of Remains Ceremony for victims of the Benghazi attack held at Andrews Air Force Base on Sept. 14, 2012 (Licensed under Public Domain via Commons)

One of the first moves the Obama administration made after the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. special mission at Benghazi, Libya, was to contact YouTube in an apparent attempt to blame the attack on an obscure "Pastor Jon" video, according to State Department documents obtained in a lawsuit by the Washington, D.C. watchdog Judicial Watch.

Later, the administration famously claimed the attack was provoked by another YouTube video, “Innocence of Muslims,” by Egyptian-born filmmaker Nakoula “Mark” Basseley Nakoula.

As WND reported in July, Judicial Watch previously uncovered documents that show Hillary Clinton was involved in the "talking points" used by then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, which claimed the attack was due to a spontaneous protest that turned violent.

However, classified documents from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of State released in May by Judicial Watch show that within hours of the attack, the Obama administration had intelligence that it was planned by terrorists at least 10 days in advance with the aim "to kill as many Americans as possible."

The initial attack on the compound killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith. A second assault at a compound about one mile away killed CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.

Find out what really happened in Aaron Klein's "The REAL Benghazi Story: What the White House and Hillary Don't Want You to Know"

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the latest release of documents "show the Obama White House rushed to tie yet another video to the Benghazi attack, even before Ambassador Stevens was accounted for."

"The Obama White House, evidently, was confused as to which Internet video to falsely blame for the Benghazi terrorist attack,” said Fitton. “These documents show that the Obama White House should have been focused on rescuing our people under fire."

He said the documents "detail delays and lack of support that raise questions about whether American lives were needlessly lost and put at risk during the Benghazi attack.”

The documents, from the agency’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, were provided to Judicial Watch in response to a court order in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Oct. 16, 2014.

Hillary Clinton, now the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, is set to appear before the Select Committee on Benghazi Thursday.

Just three hours after the initial attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, a memo said the White House was "reaching out to U-Tube to advise ramifications of posting of the Pastor Jon video."

Judicial Watch said the “Pastor Jon” reference might have been to a rarely viewed video by Oregon-based Pastor Jon Courson titled "God vs. Allah," an exposition of the biblical book of Kings.

The newly obtained documents also include a previously secret “Attack Timeline,” dated Sept. 12, 2012, which raise additional questions about the Obama administration’s response to the attack.

There's no mention of any spontaneous demonstration or Internet video in the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security report, which says the Diplomatic Command Center was notified at 1614 hours that "an armed group had set fire to buildings inside the compound."

The document indicates a delay of personnel sent to Benghazi could have led to additional deaths:

At 2215 hrs, Benghazi ARSO called DSCC to report that the [REDACTED] response team has been on the ground in Benghazi for approximately 60 minutes, but are waiting for the 17 February Brigade to escort them to [REDACTED]. DS Seniors ask ARSO about the identity of the reported white male in the hospital. [REDACTED MATERIAL] hospital for about two hours. Henderson will call him after this call.

Other timelines also make no mention of Internet videos or demonstrations.

One declassified timeline said that at1550 hours, the mission was "under attack by 15-20 armed hostiles."

The documents also reveal the Defense Department had two government contractors in Benghazi working on weapons removal without the knowledge of the State Department.

Judicial Watch, which has filed 40 FOIA requests, a Mandatory Declassification Review, and 12 lawsuits against the Obama administration regarding the Benghazi attack, obtained an internal email in April 2014 that showed White House officials were trying to protect President Obama's re-election campaign.

The email showed then-White House Deputy Strategic Communications Adviser Ben Rhodes and other Obama administration public relations officials attempting to orchestrate a campaign to “reinforce” Obama and to portray the Benghazi attack as being “rooted in an Internet video, and not a failure of policy.”