Sen. Lindsey Graham said testimony on Capitol Hill Wednesday from former U.S. diplomats on the Benghazi attacks will challenge the Obama administration’s version of events and show that more could have been done to save the four people who died.
The South Carolina Republican said that the witnesses will say it was a terrorist attack from the “get go” and that there were other assets in the region that could have been deployed as part of a response to the attack.
“I think the story of Benghazi is that after the attack — seven weeks before an election — there was an effort by some senior people to put a political spin on this rather than to tell the story that it was a terrorist attack from the get go because they were so close to the election,” Mr. Graham said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Gregory N. Hicks, who became the chief of the U.S. Consulate when Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was killed in the attack, is set to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee.
Mr. Hicks told House investigators on Libya that more could have been done to defend Mr. Stevens and the three others who died in the attack.
Mr. Graham said that the Obama administration’s attempts last year to blame an anti-Islamic video produced in the U.S. for sparking the attacks shows that the president and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were either “detached from reality” or “putting political spin” on the attack.
SPECIAL COVERAGE: Benghazi Attack Under Microscope
Mr. Graham said that the attack shows that the Obama administration “light footprint” approach is not working in the Middle East at a time of turmoil.
“It is a foreign policy gone wrong,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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