ABC's Jonathan Karl reported on his testy exchange with White House press secretary Jay Carney over a recently revealed email suggesting the Obama administration coached Susan Rice to attribute the September, 11 2012 Benghazi attacks to an anti-Islam video Wednesday on World News Tonight:
JONATHAN KARL: 18 months after the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans, newly released emails suggest the White House blamed the attacks on an anti-Islamic video in order to deflect criticism of the president's policies. The previously secret White House email lists top goals for Ambassador Susan Rice as she prepared for a now infamous round of interviews just says after the attacks, saying she should "underscore these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy." And that's what she said.
SUSAN RICE: In reaction to this very offensive video -- that was disseminated.
KARL: The White House has long insisted that Rice's talking points came from the intelligence community but the email is written by a top political aide. And the former CIA director recently told Congress the intelligence community didn't agree with what Rice said.
MICHAEL MORRELL: When she talked about the video, my reaction was, that's not something that the analysts have attributed this attack to.
KARL: The White House insists the email doesn't change the story at all, but it was only released in response to a lawsuit demanding all Benghazi related emails. Why were you holding back this information, why was this email not turned over to the Congress? This is directly relevant. Why did you hold it back?
JAY CARNEY:Jjohn, again --
KARL: Why did it take a court case for you to release this?
CARNEY: John, I can say it again and again and I know you can keep asking again and again, this document was not about Benghazi.
KARL: That's right, the White House says it didn't initially release the email because it was about broader unrest in the Arab world and not about Benghazi specifically. Officials also point out that they eventually corrected the record acknowledging there were no protests in Benghazi before that attack. But Diane, this latest revelation has Republicans demanding another investigation.