House Speaker John Boehner is calling on the White House to release a series of key emails between a State Department official and the Libyan consulate following the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack in Libya which could demonstrate a whitewash of the events.
On Sept. 12, 2012 – the day after the attack that killed four Americans and four days before U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s five Sunday show appearances – a senior State Department official emailed her superiors to alert them that the terror attacks were conducted by Islamic terrorists, Boehner told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday.
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"The State Department would not allow our committees to keep copies of this email when it was reviewed," Boehner said. "I would call on the president to order the State Department to release this email so the American people can see it."
The White House continues to claim it made only "stylistic" changes to the talking points used by Rice, ignoring the fact that senior White House officials directed the changes to the talking points, Boehner said, referring to testimony from a House Oversight and Investigation Committee hearing held Wednesday on the attack.
A recently released interim report on an investigation by House Republicans into the attacks quoted specific emails in which the White House and State Department insist on removing all references to a terrorist attack to protect the State Department from criticism for providing inadequate security, Boehner said. A few members of Congress were able to review these emails, but they were not allowed to keep them or share them with others.
"Last November, the President said he was 'happy to cooperate in any way Congress wants,'" Boehner said. "This is his chance."
"The truth shouldn’t be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall," Boehner continued. "Four Americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal."
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