Washington Post media writer Erik Wemple has been working doggedly
to correct one of Sean Hannity's favorite false claims about the attack
on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi: that State Department officials
watched "real-time" video of the assault from an office in Washington,
DC. Wemple's efforts got an assist
from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who testified before the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs on January 23: "There was no monitor,
there was no real time." As Wemple's debunking of the falsehood makes
clear, Hannity has been the primary driver of this claim by repeating on
a near-daily basis. But the "real-time" video falsehood did not start
with the Fox News host. In fact, one of the first mentions -- perhaps the first -- of the spurious Benghazi video was on Jennifer Rubin's Washington Post blog.
The whole story starts with an October 10, 2012, hearing of the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. At that hearing, Charlene
Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary of state for international
programs, had this exchange with Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), describing
how she followed via telephone the developments in the Benghazi attack
as they were happening:........................MORE
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