White House Email Bombshell: “Messaging Ramifications” Reflect Fear Of Obama’s Benghazi Lies

by Pamela Geller 

Obama is calling Benghazi a “sideshow.” Dead Americans and an attack on our consulate on September 11, 2012 is a “sideshow“?  On that alone, he shows how unqualified, incompetent, dangerous and unconcerned he is/was with American lives and national security — not to mention that he has, yet again, been exposed as a vicious, bold-faced liar.
Dck Cheney said on Hannity: “I think it’s one of the worst incidents frankly that I can recall in my career.”  He said that officials would not allow Americans to know the truth about the attack because it would challenge the basis for President Obama’s re-election campaign. “If they told the truth about Benghazi — that it was a terrorist attack by an al-Qaida affiliated group — it would destroy the false image of competence that was the basis of his campaign for re-election,” Cheney insisted. “Well they lied.”
I can’t believe that CNN broke this. I wonder how long Tapper will last there, desecrating the holiest of O-liest.

CNN exclusive: White House email contradicts Benghazi leaks Updated 12:15 PM EDT, Tue May 14, 2013 By Jake Tapper, CNN
CNN has obtained an email sent by a top aide to President Barack Obama, in which the aide discusses the Obama administration reaction to the attack on the U.S. posts in Benghazi, Libya. The actual email differs from how sources inaccurately quoted and paraphrased it in previous accounts to different media organizations.

The significance of the email seems to be that whomever leaked the inaccurate information earlier this month did so in a way that made it appear that the White House – specifically deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes – was more interested in the State Department’s desire to remove mentions to specific terrorist groups and warnings about these groups so as to not bring criticism to the Department than Rhodes’ email actually stated.


More on Tapper’s report:

The actual email from then-Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes appears to show that whomever leaked it did so in a way that made it appear that the White House primarily concerned with the State Department’s desire to remove references and warnings about specific terrorist groups so as to not bring criticism to the department.
Rhodes, White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, and White House press secretary Jay Carney, could not be reached for comment.
In the email sent on Friday, September 14, 2012, at 9:34 p.m., obtained by CNN from a U.S. government source, Rhodes wrote:
“All –
“Sorry to be late to this discussion. We need to resolve this in a way that respects all of the relevant equities, particularly the investigation.
“There is a ton of wrong information getting out into the public domain from Congress and people who are not particularly informed. Insofar as we have firmed up assessments that don’t compromise intel or the investigation, we need to have the capability to correct the record, as there are significant policy and messaging ramifications that would flow from a hardened mis-impression.
“We can take this up tomorrow morning at deputies.”

You can read the email HERE.

ABC News reported that Rhodes wrote: “We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.” The Weekly Standard reported that Rhodes “responded to the group, explaining that Nuland had raised valid concerns and advising that the issues would be resolved at a meeting of the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee the following morning.”
Whoever provided those quotes seemingly invented the notion that Rhodes wanted the concerns of the State Department specifically addressed. While Nuland, particularly, had expressed a desire to remove mentions of specific terrorist groups and CIA warnings about the increasingly dangerous assignment, Rhodes put no emphasis at all in his email on the State Department’s concerns. 

Previous reporting also misquoted Rhodes as saying the group would work through the talking points at the deputies meeting on Saturday, September 15, when the talking points to Congress were finalized. While the previously written subject line of the email mentions talking points, Rhodes only addresses misinformation in a general sense.
So whoever leaked the inaccurate information earlier this month did so in a way that made it appear that the White House – specifically Rhodes – was more interested in the State Department’s concerns, and more focused on the talking points, that the email actually stated.
The email was sent to former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, CIA spokeswoman Cynthia Rapp, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, State Department official Jake Sullivan, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Shawn Turner and others whose names have been redacted from the copy of the email obtained by CNN. The subject line of the email is “Re: Revised HPSCI Talking Points for Review.”