Conservative watchdog Judicial Watch released 54 pages of State Department documents Tuesday it said showed a former official admitting the deadly 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack was a "direct breaching attack" and not "under cover of protest."
"This document removes any further doubt that the State Department and the Obama administration knew immediately after the assault on Benghazi that it was a well-orchestrated terrorist attack and not a 'spontaneous demonstration' over a 'hateful video,' as the Obama administration repeatedly claimed," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.
"These documents show that the Benghazi scandal is not over . . . not by a long shot."
According to Judicial Watch, the admission by then-Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy comes in a transcript of a Sept. 12, 2012, telephone conference call with congressional staffers.
Notes from the call detail Ambassador Chris Stevens – one of four Americans killed in the attack – got out of the compound, but "collapsed" and was taken to the hospital, and Kennedy said it was his personal opinion the attack "was semi-complex," Judicial Watch reported.
When asked why no American troops were deployed, Kennedy responded "the entire thing lasted approximately 4.5 hours. No U.S. forces within time to get there," Judicial Watch reported.
The watchdog group said the latest documents came in response to a Jan. 29, 2016, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit has been settled, the group reported.
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