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Feinstein: Benghazi a 'Learning Experience'

DAVID GREGORY: And we're back. We'll speak to our political roundtable in just a moment. I want to begin with Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of course to the Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat of California and senator, your reaction to what you've heard thus far. Particularly the ins and outs on these talking points and what seems to be the central charge that is these e-mails revealed that the administration at various levels wanted to scrub the fact that there was a link to terrorism of the September 11th attack in Benghazi.

DIANNE FEINSTEIN: Well, I disagree with the conclusion. We have held six separate hearings. We have interviewed every intelligence head. we have read the e-mails. we spent a considerable amount of time with David Petraeus when he was director of the agency with the CIA analysts involved. We will shortly be producing what I hope will be a bipartisan review. You know, what I hear being assessed is all kinds of ulterior motives, and I don't believe they existed. And I have looked through all of the intelligence preceding Benghazi. There was no tactical intelligence but there was intelligence to the effect that there had been prior attacks that, this was a dangerous area. You can say the security was inadequate. It was. This was not a consulate or an embassy; therefore it did not have Marines. You can question whether it should have been there in the first place. But I don't think the you can question that there was malevolence on the part of the President, on the part of the Secretary of State or anyone else. It was a very unfortunate incident that turned in to be, I think, a great and very painful learning experience.

GREGORY: But when you see some of these e-mails that no doubt you already reviewed as chair of the intelligence committee, all of this was is reviewed by intelligence committee members, Republicans and Democrats. At the time nobody accused anybody of a cover-up. But you do see the talking points have from them removed any reference to terrorist groups being involved. Can’t you understand the accusation that people were spinning this as something other than a terrorist attack?

FEINSTEIN: Let me say this, I think the talking points were wrong. I think the talking points should not be written by the intelligence community. I think the intelligence community should not be doing talking points for members of Congress and our report will in essence say that. Talking points can't be done by committee either. And these were. They were passed from one to the other to the other. And changes were made. The White House made virtually no changes. the word consulate was changed to mission and John Brennan made a change inning syntax of one sentence that was it.

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