President Barack Obama at a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York, May 13, 2013.??Under heavy political pressure, the White House on Wednesday released 100 pages of internal Obama Administration emails in which senior officials debated what to tell Americans about the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
For months, Republicans have charged that the White House watered down the original CIA-crafted talking points about the attack in order to protect Obama's election-year prospects. The White House has accused Republicans of giving reporters "fabricated" versions of the back-and-forth to hurt the president politically.
The emails show that the CIA on Sept. 14, 2012 wrote a draft of the requested talking points regarding the attack, and then in later drafts on the same day?before the White House saw the talking points?removed references to al-Qaida and changed Benghazi "attacks" to Benghazi "demonstrations."
"The attacks in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo," read one phrase in the original talking points.
That was changed later that afternoon to read: "The demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the US Embassy in Cairo," a change senior administration officials said on Wednesday was due to the first wording being deemed an awkward account of the events.
Also, the original draft referred to "Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qai'da" participating in the attack, but the reference to extremists was later couched, and the reference to al-Qaida was removed citing the ongoing FBI investigation.
Victoria Nuland, who serves as a State Department spokeswoman, expressed some concerns about the talking points, including a reference to prior attacks in Benghazi, which Nuland said could suggest security warnings were ignored. Senior administration officials said Wednesday that CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell had supported those changes independently prior to being aware of Nuland's concerns.
One page in the 100-page document dump includes handwritten notes from Morell, including a mistake where officials say the director accidentally redacted a bullet point.
The emails show that while the White House had implied it had only requested a "stylistic" change?Benghazi "consulate" to "diplomatic post"?the White House was actively engaged with agencies in debating the talking points' content.
A senior administration official also told reporters Wednesday that the White House had taken the step of releasing the emails?which were provided to members of Congress?following misinformation regarding the exchanges and allegations of a coverup.
Republicans have charged that the White House played down the role of suspected terrorists in the attack, which left four Americans dead including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. GOP lawmakers have said that President Barack Obama's reelection campaign did not want to undermine its message that al-Qaida was on the run. Obama has flatly denied any attempt to deceive the public, and on Monday he called the allegations a "sideshow" that dishonors the memories of those killed.
The documents released do not appear to contain references that would suggest a politically motivated coverup.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner released a statement shortly after the White House released the emails Wednesday suggesting that Republicans would not let up on demanding more information about the federal government's response to the attack in Benghazi.
?The House interim report found that ?senior State Department officials requested the talking points be changed to avoid criticism for ignoring the threat environment in Benghazi? and that those changes were ultimately made," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. "Those findings are confirmed by the emails released today, and they contradict statements made by the White House that it and the State Department only changed one word in the talking points. The seemingly political nature of the State Department?s concerns raises questions about the motivations behind these changes and who at the State Department was seeking them. This release is long overdue and there are relevant documents the Administration has still refused to produce. We hope, however, that this limited release of documents is a sign of more cooperation to come.?
Some of the back-and-forth has centered on the email messages among top officials looking to craft "talking points" for members of Congress just a few days after the attack. The White House has accused Republicans of pushing "fabricated" messages to damage the administration.
Chris Moody contributed to this report.
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