Weapons trafficking questions remain unanswered in Benghazi report

By RACHAEL BADE

The National Security Council would not allow the House Benghazi committee to review information about possible U.S. covert action in Libya that might have preceded the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.

And employees at the CIA, State Department and Defense Department refused to answer specific questions about whether the U.S. sent, oversaw or was otherwise involved in weapons transfers to Libyan rebels, according to an exclusive copy of a section of the final Benghazi committee report provided to POLITICO.

“Over the course of nearly a dozen interviews with the State Department, the Defense Department and the CIA personnel witnesses consistently refused to answer questions related to certain allegations with respect to the U.S. activity in Libya even though the House specifically gave the committee access to materials relating to intelligence sources and methods,” reads an excerpt from the “compliance” section of the report.

“Most of these questions related in some way to allegations regarding weapons,” the report continues. “These refusals meant significant questions raised in public relating to Benghazi could not be answered.”

Multiple news reports in the past year, including one just a few months ago by The New York Times, have cited unnamed State or other government officials saying the president approved a covert operation to deliver weapons to Libyan rebels. Emails have showed that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, advocated arming the Libyan opposition.

The Benghazi panel, however, was unable to confirm or refute those reports. Individuals up and down the chain of command, GOP staffers for the panel said, wouldn’t answer any questions about weapons shipments to Libya.

The panel also said it spoke with at least one individual who raised the possibility of the U.S. overseeing some sort of weapons shipping, though the interview took place in a classified setting, barring investigators from discussing details of what was said.

The panel, consequently, in March asked the White House for access to any top secret special access programs the president might have approved. But the National Security Council wouldn’t allow it.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/benghazi-report-findings-2016/2016/06/benghazi-report-weapons-trafficking-224869#ixzz4DK25gXJl 
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