On Thursday, Hillary Clinton joined the ranks of those criticizing President Trump for his dealings with Vladimir Putin.
At the Helsinki summit earlier this week, Putin had an
unusual request for Trump:
“This kind of effort should be a mutual one. Then we would expect that the Americans would reciprocate, and that they would question officials, including the officers of law enforcement and intelligence service of the United States, whom we believe are — who have something to do with illegal actions on the territory of Russia, and we have to — to request the presence of our law enforcement.”
In other words, Putin asked Trump if Russia would be allowed to question U.S. intelligence officials believed to be involved in illegal operations in Russia, especially illegal financial operations.
Trump called the offer “incredible” but did not immediately accept or reject the offer–prompting Clinton to attack the president with an accusatory tweet.
“To see the White House even hesitate to defend a diplomat is deeply troubling,” she wrote.
Um. Benghazi, anyone?
When a coordinated attack was launched against U.S. government buildings in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, Clinton was secretary of state and she completely failed at her duty to defend a U.S. diplomat.
Do you think Hillary should be called out more strongly for this hypocrisy?
In 2016, four years after the attack, Greg Hicks, former Deputy Chief of Mission for Libya spoke about Clinton’s failure:
“The Benghazi Committee’s report graphically illustrates the magnitude of her failure. It states that during August 2012, the State Department reduced the number of U.S. security personnel assigned to the Embassy in Tripoli from 34 (1.5 security officers per diplomat) to 6 (1 security officer per 4.5 diplomats), despite a rapidly deteriorating security situation in both Tripoli and Benghazi. Thus, according to the Report, “there were no surplus security agents” to travel to Benghazi with Amb. Stevens “without leaving the Embassy in Tripoli at severe risk.”
Hicks’ continued: “Had Ambassador Stevens’ July 2012 request for 13 additional American security personnel (either military or State Department) been approved rather than rejected by Clinton appointee Under Secretary of State for Management Pat Kennedy, they would have traveled to Benghazi with the ambassador, and the Sept. 11 attack might have been thwarted.”
The State Department’s own Accountability Review Board tells a similar story, according to
The Daily Wire:
“The number of Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) security staff in Benghazi on the day of the attack and in the months and weeks leading up to it was inadequate, despite repeated requests from Special Mission Benghazi and Embassy Tripoli for additional staffing. Board members found a pervasive realization among personnel who served in Benghazi that the Special Mission was not a high priority for Washington when it came to security-related requests, especially those relating to staffing.”
The report continued: “The insufficient Special Mission security platform was at variance with the appropriate Overseas Security Policy Board (OSPB) standards with respect to perimeter and interior security. Benghazi was also severely under-resourced with regard to certain needed security equipment, although DS funded and installed in 2012 a number of physical security upgrades.”
The irony of Clinton’s recent tweet was not lost on many social media users:
Many other Twitter users echoed these sentiments, calling our Clinton for her hypocrisy with pictures of Ambassador Stevens’ grave or references to the book and film “13 Hours.”
During the Benghazi incident, no rescue efforts were initiated to save the lives of the Americans trapped and under attack.
With such a tremendous failure in her not-too-distant past, Clinton sure is one to talk about defending diplomats.
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