Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) reacted to Jay Carney's grilling on Benghazi during today's White House press briefing Friday on CNN.
Graham reiterated he does not accept the administration's denial that there was ever any attempt to mislead the public, noting there are several chronological fallacies that Carney's explanation still does not reconcile:
KATE BOLDUAN: As I said, you heard Jim Acosta's report and also heard from John King. the White House is downplaying its role on this most recent issue coming up today about changing the talking points that we now know were quite flawed. And they continue to suggest and say that there has been no cover up. There was no intent to mislead the public in the aftermath of Benghazi. They say it was kind of a fog of war, developing intelligence situation. So are you satisfied?
LINDSEY GRAHAM: No. I am very familiar with the fog of war and also I know a political smoke screen when I see it. There is no way the president of the United States on 18 September could have said the following: "Here's what happened. We had a video released by somebody who lives here, a sort of shadowy character who made an extremely offensive video directed at Mohamed and Islam" and the president went on to say, "what also happened is extremists and terrorists used this as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies including the one, the consulate in Libya." A week after the attack the president told David Letterman and the entire country that the video and a riot caused the death of our ambassador and three other Americans. Either he was incredibly detached or misleading and I want to know what happened.
Unfortunately for Jay Carney, it appears the story may continue to dominate headlines.
Reports suggest several other whistleblowers including CIA personnel may be preparing to come forward and share their side of the story before Congress.