WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton dismisses her critics and defends her handling of the deadly 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, in her new book, offering fellow Democrats a guide for how to talk about the fraught issue through the 2016 presidential race.
The former secretary of state’s “Hard Choices” is a rebuke to Republicans who have seized on the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Should Clinton run for president in 2016, her four years as secretary of state and the Benghazi attack in particular are certain to be the subject of driving criticism from Republicans. She’s already trying to blunt the issue.
Republicans have accused the Obama administration of stonewalling congressional investigators and misleading the public about the nature of the attack in the weeks before the presidential election.
“Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country,” Clinton writes in a 34-page chapter, obtained by Politico.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said that “until the book is released, there’s nothing to say. And once it’s released, it will speak for itself.” The book comes out June 10.
Clinton writes that she takes responsibility for the deaths but adds that there has been “a regrettable amount of misinformation, speculation and flat-out deceit” by some in politics and the media.
“I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country,” Clinton writes. “Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me.”
Clinton’s book also offers something of a playbook for her supporters to defend her as she weighs a presidential bid.
On Friday, her top advisers met for an hour with 33 friendly Democratic strategists, allies and foreign policy academics who work in Washington’s vast think-tank network.
Clinton counselor Philippe Reines led the session, and former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, who is helping Clinton’s team during the book launch, joined the discussion about how to frame Benghazi.
Multiple independent, bipartisan and GOP-led investigations have faulted the State Department for inadequate security in Benghazi, leading to four demotions. No attacker has been arrested.
On Capitol Hill, House Speaker John Boehner said that his fellow Republicans wanted answers, not politics.
“It is clear to me — and has been clear — that the American people have not been told the truth about Benghazi and we’re committed to getting it,” Boehner said.
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Issa releases Kerry from testimony • WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Oversight committee on Friday released Secretary of State John Kerry from his obligation to testify next month about the Benghazi attack.
Rep. Darrell Issa accused Kerry of trying to use his June 12 appearance before the oversight panel as an excuse to avoid testifying before the newly formed select House committee investigating the Sept. 11, 2012, assault.
The State Department had said last week that Kerry would testify before Issa’s panel but that the appearance “would remove any need for the secretary to appear before the select committee.”
It’s been disappointing to watch a long-serving former senator, like Secretary Kerry, squirm his way to what I’m doing today — releasing him from the upcoming hearing commitment he made only after we issued him a subpoena,” Issa said in a statement. The Associated Press
