tv House Session CSPAN January 16, 2014 9:00am-10:01am EST
9:00 am
bureaucrats. i think more money should be able to stay in the people's pockets and taxes should not be going up. taxes should be staying the same are going on. the color seems to imply that i want to take more money from the viewers. absolutely not. i have never in my time in office ever voted to raise taxes. just the opposite. we should allow the decisions on how money is spent and retained to be made by the public. on the other point, i agree with him, on issues of cutting spending, foreign aid, that is something i've often said we spend way too much for. as far as building things here, yes. the job creation bills i've
9:01 am
passed are sponsored, all about saying how we keep manufacturing back here in the country so that businesses not have to go to asia or else well to make -- asia or elsewhere to make the product. employees can work there and make a living wage. host: we are speaking with scott garrett, republican from new jersey, in his sixth term resenting the fifth to strict of new jersey. you are also the founder of the cost addition caucus. guest: that is true. host: the trillion dollar spending bill includes a provision in it, according to npr, that specifically orders the irs to use no funds to " target citizens of the united states were exercising any right guaranteed under the first amendment. what do you make of that as the constitution caucus founder? guest: well, i agree with it.
9:02 am
. read that in the bill that is one of the selling points of why that is a good bill. but you have to scratch your head on that and say, do you tolly have to pass a new law tell bureaucrats not to use their authority to go after american citizens? that is already the law, that is already a criminal offense. if we ever get investigations done of the irs to figure out , ifknew what and when somebody in the irs actually targeted people went after your tax returns or put pressure on you because of your political voice, that is already illegal. i don't know if we need more, but more is better, i guess. now we just need to get investigations done. host: talk about what you want to hear from the president tomorrow when he addresses the nsa surveillance program said the issue of privacy. guest: privacy is huge.
9:03 am
it is ironic, i see on the front pages of the papers, so many senators are chomping at the bit to go after target and what went on with target and how bad all that sort of thing is. i think the focus should be on security issues on a whole list of other areas within the government. the site security should, of security the side issue, of course, is the health care act website. i is a member of congress have to go onto a website to buy health insurance a and as i enter my name and my family's names and social security numbers, i am concerned about the security of those websites. i would like to hear from the president that he would accept the bill passed this week that rsonals all americans' pe data is going to be secure on the affordable health care act obamacare website.
9:04 am
almost all democrats have said no and the president has said no, he doesn't care about your security there. the other part of the issue, the nsa, i hope she comes forward with a plan that gives us some degree of satisfaction that these programs will be arraigned that americans, feel secure that when i communicate with you or the family back home, someone else in the government is not necessarily collecting that data . there are ways just from talking to other people in the tech field, and i am not a techie, but it seems as though there are other ways to adequately retain it by the companies and not capture it and secure it by the government and bureaucrats and store it in a central location. there are other ways to do this. host: going to your home state of new jersey saw that our -- how long? host: almost 2 hours.
9:05 am
guest: i heard what he said, i saw what he did. i think the government took the right actions. he had evidence that these people under him made very bad decisions, that they should be that go, and he did so. i think that is good. that heim at his word said he knew nothing about it on day one, so to speak. quick the act just did a poll on this yesterday, i guess. i don't know the numbers -- you may have them. host: actually, nbc poll, but go ahead. the majority in new jersey, it think it was, believe that the governor says, believe that the guy has get toty, is trying to the bottom of it and is a good governor. caller from new jersey, twitter? host: hard to tell. guest: most folks in new jersey
9:06 am
are ok with what is happened so far. with the democratic legislature thrown into this, you will see huge investigations going on. that is the interesting thing. i just heard this from somebody on the street here yesterday -- the amount of major network bridgegate, ifs you will come was something like 70 times, or some a multiple times the amount of major network coverage of the irs intrusion or irs targeting. meaning that the major networks were far more interested in the shutdown of one bridge and they were to. thehan they were to previous question of people in the u.s. government targeting your privacy, which i think is absurd and calls into question the lack of partisanship by some people in the major networks. as an company completely accepted -- present company
9:07 am
completely excepted. host: i will show the numbers from the nbc poll. 26% said he is a bully, 49% said he is a strong leader. i just want to let our viewers know that chris christie will be heading up the governors association and politico has the story. this is a high-stakes weekend for him as he begins to tour around the country is headed the r -- as head of the rga. hi, diane. you are on with congressman garrett. diane, you with us? diane in monticello, minnesota. let's move on. connecticut, independent caller. hi, steven. you are on with the congressman. caller: good morning, representative garrett, and a lady. i think governor christie is a hard worker, and in politics, as
9:08 am
one person called it, in a 2 weeks everybody forgets everything. as long as he is not directly tied, i think his work ethic could bring him all the way to pennsylvania avenue. my question to you, representative, is on internet security and the budget. a couple years ago i had chinese in my hotmail account target, dump mynd the nsa all personal security records to the world. besides us holding a prayer group for internet security guards, is there anything in the budget for the average joe for this type of security? guest: yeah. for the average joe for security? off the top of my head, i am going to have to say no. we have had legislation in the past that is not gone all the
9:09 am
way through the process, meaning hasn't passed the senate and signed into law. mike rogers in the house was champion of it, that would try webrovide greater over the -- greater security over the web and places like target and companies continuously attacked. people in the credit card business, it is like a daily barrage from china or some place or another. it would help regular folks to be protected. it would allow the businesses to be able to share that nsa-typeon with entities or agencies to try to share it and be able to pinpoint where the attacks are coming from. right now company's are loath to be able to do that because it is personal information, your
9:10 am
information or my information you may be revealing to a third-party. this would provide some degree of protection. that needs to be addressed. host: i want to get your thoughts on a couple of financial services-type stories. janet yellen taking over the fed. what do you think about her leadership? guest: there you go. it goes back to earlier discussions of what washington is doing, basically just printing money to get our way out of this. that has never worked, will never work, and is actually bad for the economy long-term, as we see in potential for inflation rates, the unseen tax on all americans as you go to the store and see that the prices of everything have gone up dramatically. will be justntly like her predecessor, ben bernanke, which means you will just keep up this idea -- she will just keep up this idea of easy money in the market place. i have real concerns. ast: on fannie and freddie,
9:11 am
story from "the wall street journal." "u.s. posts december budget surplus. fannie mae and freddy mac image to the treasury further narrowing the deficit." guest: there you go, when you have a government monopoly, you are guaranteed to make money. it is real easy if you are the only game in town, so to speak, to demand the prices you want to make money. that is not sustainable. i have a bill with jeb hens arling of texas, the path act. it would phase out over a thoughtful period of time fannie mae and freddie mac and replace it with public and private sector system where the american public would no longer be on the hook to bail out these entities. one number i will throw out to you -- the american public has bailed out your tax dollars -- your tax dollars on if you will,
9:12 am
have gone to bailout fannie and freddie to the tune of $180 billion, with a b. that is more money than it took to bailout all the banks, gm, aig. have done toat we bail out fannie and freddie. i want to make sure that never happens again. the only way to do that is to phase them out, do away with them, and let the private sector move back into this market place. host: gerald in cincinnati, ohio. democratic caller. caller: yes -- i am a veteran. guest: thank you for your service, sir. caller: i'm a veteran. guest: thank you for your service. caller: i was laid off from my job. i'm disappointed in the position that the republicans have taken about the unemployed, that they are sitting around and waiting on on implement checks -- waiting on unemployment checks, they are lazy.
9:13 am
but there are representatives that are taking their mistress on lavish vacations. comment isld, your about unemployment insurance and extending the long-term unemployment insurance? caller: yes. host: we will have a congressman -- we willuest have the congressman respond. guest: 2 thoughts. first, i appreciate the congress -- the jones service to our country and regret the situation where he is out of work. we need to do a couple things about that. one thought is what is happening in the senate. harry reid said he was going to do something in the senate and he has not been able to do anything in the senate. we wait to see what senators think they can deal with this issue. the larger issue is what can we do for this caller and all the other colors -- callers who really don't want simply a
9:14 am
continuation of unemployment checks, it would prefer to be called back to their old job or to get another job and be able to support themselves and their families through work. i'm sure that is where this caller really wants to be. that is why we passed a couple bills this week to create jobs in the country. we have done a number of them over this session over the last year, passed them out of the house. many of them -- yesterday, in a bipartisan manner. but the amazingly frustrating part for me is that we passed these bills out of the house and they go over to the senate and basically, none of them moved. none of these career creating jobs move in the senate. the senate is where all good bills go to die. they just die over there. harry reid will not take them up. i would ask the caller to call the senate to start moving some of these bills. tweeted thiselosi
9:15 am
out -- guest: on the show? host: no, she's not watching, i think. guest: well, i think we do, and my last answer sort of addressed that. we have the unemployment system in all 50 states to give people security in that area. there is a whole host of other social safety nets from the federal level on down and the greatest security you can give this caller and everyone else out there is a good career, good paying job if that is what it is all about. host: just to clarify, for folks out there, they can get unemployment insurance at the state level for 26 weeks. what is not being extended is the federal government stepping in at that point in continuing to give unemployment insurance for 99 weeks -- guest: now it is down to 46 weeks. host: an additional 46 weeks. guest: that is an excellent
9:16 am
point, because sometimes the way this is played in talking points of the media is that there is no unemployment insurance at all for people, it is all done. but you set the facts straight. thank you. host: oscar, republican caller. caller: good morning. talking about investigations that we need, what rationale or basis to people in congress have foregoing -- for ignoring building seven construction on 9/11 and the evidence that tree planted explosives to straight it? -- destroyed it? rationale for ignoring building 7 being destroyed on 9/11? host: ok, we have a group of people organized calling into this show and other shows who believe that the investigation that the government it into the september 11 2001 attacks is inadequate. guest: i saw the congress woman before, marcy kaptur, maybe the
9:17 am
same caller called -- host: different caller. guest: she said that she would refer that information over to the appropriate authorities. i would encourage this caller and people who call the show, barely, to give the call to marcy's office and she will forward the information to the appropriate place. host: nancy, independent caller. caller: yes, ma'am. the president is talking about poority and giving all people more money to make us equal. why aren't these people made to get up at 7:00 in the morning just like we are, going to work ? they can do community service. all the garbage on the side of the roads can be picked up. they can be doing something. get them up at 7:00 in the mine. don't give them an hourly wage of seven dollars or eight dollars an hour. you can give them five dollars an hour.
9:18 am
get them off our backs. people thing, i know 15 that are on disability. of all 15 people on disability, all of these people can be working. they are like 20, 30, 40 years old, and there is nothing wrong with them. they are lazy. host: ok, nancy. congressman? guest: 2 points. when i'mcreation, stressed a couple times already. not this caller, but that the previous caller, the gentleman who was laid off from work and is a hard worker and wants to have a job. what we need to do is has legislation and facilitate that and stop legislation that hurts job creation. for people like that caller, we need to have a place they can go and say "i have a job, i can support myself." that is the paramount issue. the second point, to this caller, is the work requirement.
9:19 am
that is something that republicans have tried to do in the house, and that is to say on various social support programs, there should be tied to it a work requirement so that if you are, unfortunately, out of work, what have you, while you are on unemployment or otherwise, there should be a requirement that if you are physically able, like these 15 people she sees, they should have a work requirement, that they are getting a largest payment, a welfare payment, from the government, there should be some work requirement tied to it. it is highly pushed back from the other side and the white house is not on board with this at all. know ken wants to guest: there are still questions that remain out there from the top on down.
9:20 am
there was report earlier, some news or e-mails that came out with regard to information was conveyed directly to the president almost immediately as this was going on. that seems to refute the information that this was all -- benghazi was caused by a video, what have you. that information raises the other question that the president has not answered -- where was he? where was the president of the united states when he was told that one of our embassies was under attack, told the people's lives are at stake, people in y be dying over there, and we still don't know what decisions he was making, where he was. we know all about it when he was in the situation room with osama bin laden, all the pictures, looking at the tv screen, what have you. here when it 4 people are actually killed, u.s. ambassador was killed, the report doesn't answer the question and it also doesn't answer the question as
9:21 am
what did former secretary of state hillary clinton now and what she was doing about this. her name only appears once in this report. i don't believe she was actually interviewed for this report. i'm not sure of that -- host: it doesn't say at the beginning of the report that she was interviewed. guest: a lot of questions remain as to what she was doing. this report seems to be pointing the finger at the top leadership at the state department for failing to provide the security that was necessary over there, and who is the top person at the state department? well, secretary hillary clinton. she has a lot more questions to answer. host: scott garrett, republican from new jersey, thank you, sir. guest: i appreciate the chance. thanks. host: we will return to that report of what happened september 11, 2012, in benghazi, libya after this radio break. >> jobless numbers the summer
9:22 am
show a number of americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 2000 last week to a seasonably adjusted to 6000, a sign that layoffs are weighing less on employment and economic growth could more than 4.7 million americans collected benefits last year, a figure that has declined by over one million over the past 12 months. that number is poised to drop inther over one million upcoming reports because of special federal programs expiring last month. senate democratic leaders are holding a news conference over extending those benefits. they are holding it at noon and c-span radio will be covering that event. you can hear it later on our schedule. the labor department says the consumer price index rose last month to a seasonally adjusted three percent in december after a flat reading last month. it was driven up by high gas prices. gas prices jumped 3.1% in december, the biggest gain since june. president obama is bringing
9:23 am
together leaders from more than 100 colleges and universities to announce steps each will take to expand access to higher education. last year the president asked universities to take action to help low income students boost college advising and help with entrance exams and improve remedial programs. c-span is covering this event as well. you can hear later on our programming schedule. those are the latest headlines on c-span radio. we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences, and offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u.s. house all as a public service of the private industry. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter.
9:24 am
>> when you go behind the scenes as a photographer, you are there to see, not hear, not listen, and not repeat anything that you hear. it is kind of a mutual agreement because we are let into meetings when you are behind the scenes that are sensitive. i was there when president obama was at a rally, and at the same time, the hurricane had just come up the east coast and he was on the phone am on a secure phone talking to the senior director and trying to organize it at the same time he was running the campaign. really unique time to be in -- in there and hear a serious conversation on the ground on how he wanted things to take place and organizing that and on the other side of the wall, people are banging, "4
9:25 am
4 more years." >> "new york times" staff photographer doug mills, sunday night at 8:00 on "q&a." "washington journal" continues. host: we will spend the remaining time on "washington thoughtsgetting your on the senate intelligence committee report on what happened on september 11, 2012 in benghazi, libya, where the consulate was attacked and ambassador to stevens was killed . many newspapers with a headline that it was preventable them according to this report. times" says "the assault on the diplomatic post in benghazi, libya involved attackers from several major international terrorist networks , according to a bipartisan senate report released wednesday.
9:26 am
it blames the intelligence committee -- community and the state department and ambassador to stevens himself for lapses. stevens and 3 other americans died in the attack of the committee said could have been averted if the state department had he did numerous warnings. but stevens himself rejected offers of more security and he never forwarded other warnings from benghazi to his superiors in washington, the report concluded. the 85-page report directly contradicts a 'new york times' thattigation last month argued no international terrorist which were involved in the assault, the paper said was spurred in part by an anti-islam video. committee members, led by chairwoman dianne feinstein, concluded that video cameras surrounding the compound showed no spontaneous protest around the film. they also flatly concluded that fighters tied to al qaeda took part in the attack." "the new york times," their
9:27 am
front page story says this -- " attack called avoidable and senate report." the first public examination of a breakdown in communications between the state department and the cia in the weeks leading to the deadly episode at the diplomatic compound. it is the first report to implicitly criticize ambassador stevens, raising questions about his judgment and actions in the weeks before his death." what is your take on this report? melvin, democratic caller. caller: this is the first time i have ever heard anything put blame on the ambassador himself, because i never heard that in the first conversation you had. when you have a situation where an individual has 3 opportunities to get some type of security and he doesn't do it theelf and doesn't forward information on, it shows there was something else going on. it is harder to protect
9:28 am
individuals who have a problem trying to protect themselves. them -- [indiscernible] when they were killed when we went into iraq and not having vests. all of this is monday morning quarterbacking, but the situation is what it is and there was a lot of things going on. host: all right, melvin. thereport is referred to -- report doesn't refer to that the ambassador was made aware -- ambassadorthat the was made aware of the intelligence report that the situation was deteriorating, a negative trend was happening there, and he was made aware of several reports of that, but no specific terrorist plot was ever reported to him or other national security officials. kathy in louisiana, republican caller. if you are interested in reading
9:29 am
the report our self cut -- yourself, go to our website cspan.org. you.r: thank good morning. appreciate you taking my call. it is really tragic that the "washington times" or any publication within america would turn around and blame the victim. host: hold on, cap you could let me stop you clarify you there. "the washington times" was saying that this senate intelligence committee report puts part of the blame on investor stevens. caller -- ambassador stevens. caller: correct, but do we are we or do wen -- do not own our bases in foreign territories? do we or do we not know our own history? do we know that the jihadists always exploit opportunities like their big deal, 9/11? isn't it just common sense? telling the
9:30 am
president within minutes what is going on, isn't it incumbent upon the commander-in-chief to do something about it? this is absolutely crazy. where are the grown-ups? to keep us free? ,ost: from the report, it says state department officials including ambassador stevens were aware of and had together access to threat reporting on libya. hicks, he andreg ambassador stevens regularly read the intelligence coming out of the cia and communicated with other intelligence officials on a daily basis. as part of this regular interaction, the ambassador was provided with intelligence read book which would include information on the security situation and terrorism issues. the read book was also supply to the embassy as well. that from the senate intelligence committee report. where getting your take on it
9:31 am
this morning. chuck, independent color. caller: good morning. they don't even have a government in benghazi, why do we have an ambassador there? they say it was avoidable. what about 9/11? why wasn't that avoidable? these guys were training right .ere in the united states we have been all over the world ever since. we don't know what is going on anywhere. i mean, you know? all of this security stuff and what have you, it is a bunch of b.s. outrageous that we don't even know what happened here. congress was supposed to investigate what really happened a danger it was called
9:32 am
ranger program. it was supposed to be in front of the public. host: you asked why the united states had an embassy there. one of the findings from the report is that several countries had diplomatic presence there. they write the united states, in addition to the united nations, european union, and other western countries such as italy, france, turkey and all had a diplomatic presence in libya at the time. richard, missouri, democratic caller. benghazi, the republicans said president obama did not call it a terrorist attack. i heard his press conference right after the attack, and he said it was a terrorist attack. me the security round,
9:33 am
the embassies and consulates, the funding was cut by the republicans in the house. so now how can they talk about security being waxed when they cut the budget for security? richard. right, the top republican on the senate intelligence committee tweeted this yesterday -- and then senator ted cruz who is a potential hopeful for 2016 tweeted this out -- marco rubio, who could also be a contender for the 2016 presidential elections come as
9:34 am
it is in a statement. has yet to sears they examine these attacks that resulted in the death of four americans. the committee should have examined linton's failure to provide adequate security for our deployed personality -- personnel and benghazi. eddie, north carolina, republican caller. is, themy question president was notified, whited callout hillary clinton and obama say it was spontaneous to some so-called video no one had ever seen? host: go to the report. on the "washington journal" report. they go through the talking points put out by the intelligence community in this report. they talk about how the talking
9:35 am
points were put out a couple of days after the attacks. they were repeatedly revised. you can see the revisions the intelligence community made in this report, and that they were on september 24, 2012. what do you make of all of that? caller: that's my point. supposedly, they knew within minutes it was not a terrorist attack, it was not some spontaneous uprising. and yet they came out for two weeks after that claiming -- susan rice on all the talk shows claiming it was a spontaneous uprising. while i -- why lie? host: so you consider it a lie. caller: of course. you, senatorhowed chambliss, the lead republican on the senate intelligence
9:36 am
committee tweeted out saying the u.s. government is to blame for what happened, that it could've been prevented. he and the other republicans on the committee added their views , alle report saying relevant document that not been provided. other documents have been provided to the committee on a read-only basis, meaning the committee was only permitted to view them for limited period of time, whopping supervised by the core dating agency, and had to rely upon our notes from preparing the report. even after returning to full duty by the state department. shannon, new york, independent caller. caller: hi. i want to touch real quick on the fact with the other gentleman said, it doesn't
9:37 am
matter how many talking points they put out, the issue is, they knew immediately that it was a terrorist attack. that is what they're claiming and the report shows. if you know that and you still put out talking points like this, that is disingenuous, which is telling a lie. the only problem that we have, though, really, on that issue, is that hillary clinton herself has a four-decade-long political earliestnd one of her political jobs was on the watergate. what did she get fired for? lying. this woman, we have a history between travel gate, watergate, never thing else. she is a history of lying. that poor gentleman and travelgate, he'll loan was put up in court and the jury decided he was not guilty in the was no basis for the claim.
9:38 am
hillary clinton was the one who went after him. she lied. she is a history of this. ,o we have to take her history plus the talking points, plus the report, and the only option we can come to is it was a lie. host: steve king, iowa tweeted this -- on those talking points, inside this report by the senate intelligence committee, they have an analysis of the talking points as we said earlier. on friday, september 14, 2012, here's the talking point that came from the cia's office of tourism analysis saying -- that is the initial talking
9:39 am
point that goes on. and in the senate intelligence committee goes through and shows about an hour later, additions are made by the cia's office of general counsel. saying the same thing, but adding this assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and currently available information continues to be evaluated. later in the afternoon, they change the talking point about the video to say the available information suggests the demonstrations in benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protest at the u.s. embassy in cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the u.s. consulate and subsequently its annex. that is how they continued to edit some of these and revise some of these talking points as the committee says, more information comes through. they say thetime, investigation is ongoing as to who is responsible. that being said, we do know islamic history mists -- and across out with ties to al qaeda -- participated in the attack,
9:40 am
which they change to violent demonstrations. christopher, ohio, democratic caller. caller: good morning. you're using the word embassy and consulate interchangeable when they're totally different. host: ok. caller: there is a protocol for providing security for embassies. support supposed be provided by the host country. the ambassador knew this. he tried to find security people who would help him in the situation he could trust, but he could not. now, my question is, what is the scenario that the u.s. government was supposed to get in on? what kind of protection were they supposed to provide? were they supposed to go over there and kill libyan citizens not knowing who they were? this whole report is totally ignorant of the fact that the vienna convention establishes
9:41 am
diplomatic relations between nations and how embassies are supposed to be protected. we need to know this. politicians should know it. host: there are parts in this report that refer to ambassador stevens asking for more protection from the libyan government can also asking for some sort of security teams to be put together made up of local libyan guards or as well as diplomatic security and dod. christopher, ohio, democratic caller. caller: that's me. we just got done. host: sorry about that. brian, georgia, republican caller. caller: i have two questions.
9:42 am
one, when they started saying they needed help, why wouldn't anyone help? know where these people are. why haven't they brought justice? why are they still sitting free while we have people that die? why? that's what i want to know. host: ok, brian. independenthusetts, caller. caller: i didn't read the report, but from what it seem like you are reading, it seems -- is it correct to say ambassador stevens declined additional support? host: yes, in the report, they talk about how general him who is in the area twice asked ambassador stevens if you would like additional resources for protection and that ambassador stevens declined that twice. having not read it, but
9:43 am
it seems like he is the ambassador, he is over there and if he is declining additional coverage -- i mean, i don't know the exact time frame, but there were burning down mcdonald's, you know, there were incidents across the country, but i'm wondering if in the report they contacted the families of the security team, the two or three other guys that were killed, one i know was a navy seal, one of these -- they must have talked to the families, possibly, about the status of where things were. host: at the beginning of the report, they list today spoke to at the beginning saying three committee oversight hearings they had with witnesses of the national intelligence agency, and national counterterrorism center, the cia, fbi, state and dod. they had to committee briefings with david petraeus.
9:44 am
three committee briefings with robert licht who was the director of national intelligence general counsel, who put together those cia talking points. then they had four on the record member and staff meetings with gregory hicks homage was the deputy chief of mission in tripoli during the attack. mark thompson, the acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism at the state department. bert nordstrom, the former cia chief of days and benghazi -- was at the annex -- and only 17 other staff briefings and meetings including interviews of u.s. government personnel on the ground. it does not say the committee interviewed secretary of state or former secretary of state hillary clinton. it says they reviewed numerous occupants, thousands of documents and video as well. new york, democratic caller. is jim.ok, this i am in louisville. i think it is unfortunate that
9:45 am
ambassador stevens would have declined support, but i also think it is important republicans cut funding for embassy security. is largelys thing contrived as a way to try to discredit hillary. this is in the middle of a war zone. i think people need to remember reagan was3 when president, they put a bunch of soldiers in a high-rise in beirut, lebanon, and 241 of them were killed by a terrorist car bomb. i don't remember any of this hoopla and criticism that happened then. is is largely a story to try to discredit hillary. you know, it is pretty phony. i think it is a lot worse what happened in lebanon. hamm whogeneral offered additional security resources to ambassador stevens,
9:46 am
at the time he was in charge of u.s. africa command and after reading intelligence reports, "the washington times" says that he offered more security by extending the deployment of a military site security team. both offers were declined by the ambassador. jeff, nebraska, republican caller. information of the i think you're giving is fake. we already know that general hamm, before he went to the white house, already know that it was a terrorist attack. and he is already testified in your dockets -- documents that he went to the white house, had with leon panetta, the president, secretary of state and the joint chiefs of staff. all of those people were in one room and that is when general
9:47 am
panetta already told that it was a terrorist attack. so now we're down to four people. the president, hillary, and panetta and the joint chiefs of staff. they all for new it was a terse attack because he reported it that way. four camene of those up with this stupid video concept when we already know he was a terrorist attack by al , or whatever they want to call it, but it was al qaeda groups that attacked that embassy. and he just got done one hour earlier having dinner with the turkish ambassador who had left. itself,atch on c-span they had gregory hicks on their and they also had the lady who
9:48 am
forin charge of security the secretary or the state department, and she said that money was not an issue for security for this embassy -- endeavor was it an issue. thank you. host: thank you. michael, independent caller. what are your thoughts? caller: i want to set the record straight. the two buildings in libya were embassies. -- weren't embassies, there were cia compounds used to do a deal to buy back missiles from the rebels. the rebels were not happy with the price are offered. they were insulted. that is why the attacks occurred. of the the real truth attacks. they won't let it out. that's the real deal. can't say no more. host: mac, baltimore, democratic caller. is, we are allg upset about four people being
9:49 am
killed and benghazi. how many people were killed when george bush said massive -- weapons of mass destruction? guystalking about four were killed. i feel sorry for those guys. we need to blame the congress for cutting the budget for security in benghazi. that is who we need to be blaming, not the president, not the ambassador himself, not the secretary of state. blame those same guys were sitting around time to blame everyone else. that's all i have to say. host: you refer to the four americans killed. they make a from pages of "the washington times." killed in the three attacks that happened that day and benghazi, libya. janice, massachusetts, republican caller. reiterate, the
9:50 am
woman is correct that the ambassador had time after time requested extra security from the state department. when he was denied, that is when general ham offered assistance from the african base in tripoli. everyone knows you don't step on hillary's toes. look what happened to general petraeus. thank you. host: eric, independent caller. caller: there have been several caller's this morning alluding to the question, what was the state department during their in the first place? one of the callers recently talked about it wasn't in embassy by the cia compounds. host: there was a cia annex goes to where the ambassador was staying. caller: right. wasnext day, hillary interviewed on television. i saw it.
9:51 am
i don't remember what network or anything. but she said she had dispatched contact with the rebel fighters. host: dispatched to? caller: the ambassador. host: ok. caller: she sent him into a war zone. and this is the state department. the state department had no business being there. that was a military operation. host: what you make of the senate intelligence committee that they know that also other countries had a diplomatic presence there? caller: well, that is their problem, i guess. my issue -- it is not just about benghazi, really, but we have any number of government agencies involved in these military operations. i think the report showed earlier mentioned the fbi was there, the cia was there, the state department was there. host: i want to clarify, i read
9:52 am
earlier the senate intelligence committee had interviewed all of those different agencies because the fbi is doing an investigation into how the americans were killed. the fbi has been on the ground in libya doing that investigation. caller: well, i don't think that is the role of the fbi. i think the fbi should be a domestic authority. host: ok. caller: we're sending the fbi to sochi, to the olympics. i don't agree with that. host: all right. about the fbi, from the report, it says the libyan government has not shown the political incentive were well within his own country to seek out arrest and prosecute individuals to believed to be associated with the attacks. furthermore, the security environment in benghazi remains extremely dangerous for individuals wishing to work with the united states government on its investigation into the attacks. in testimony before the senate appropriations subcommittee,
9:53 am
then fbi director robert mueller noted as many as 15 individuals supporting the investigation or otherwise helpful to the united states have been killed in benghazi since the attacks. peggy, fort worth, texas, democratic caller. caller: until those responsible war inng to us and the iraq is brought to justice were more than 4000 americans were killed and two dollars trillion taxpayerstrillion of and he was spent, benghazi is just a distraction by republicans. they are not serious. this is not about justice. host: murray tweets -- luke, independent caller. anler: i'm calling about ghazi. i hope i can get everything across i want to say.
9:54 am
all, i believe right after it happened or while it was happening, the president, the secretary of defense, and heller clinton, were all in the situation room touching it happen live. even the president came forward and said it was an attack. a terrorist attack. now, common sense tells me within 24 hours, i knew it. they were using weapons that had to be high-grade military weapons. let me tell you something, the two men that were killed -- there were mortar shells being fired and they had rifles with infrared and they lit up the target. nobody lights up a target unless they were called or notified in some way that a couple of fighters were on their way and it would've taken them out. because they know the enemy follows the site right back to them. host: you're referring to tyrone woods and glenn darty who were
9:55 am
intop of the nx -- annex benghazi and they were trying to respond. caller: they saved 20 or 30 innocent people. they went back and forth. that went on for seven or eight hours. we had all kinds of assets around the world. at least they would've been in their at two hours at the worst. f-18 fighters could've been there in less than two hours to start with. host: let me stop you there. the report talks about was their help in the area. the senate intelligence committee says there were no ships available to provide support there were anywhere close to the facility in benghazi. the assets we had available were strike eagles located come eroded with light weapons i loadede been there is --
9:56 am
with live weapons the could've responded, but there were located in djibouti, which is equivalent of the distance d.c. and losngton, angeles. the other fighters that might have been available were located in italy. there were not loaded with weapons. what do you make of that? caller: there were rangers the could've been ready. they were on the plane. there were told to stand down and they took off their uniforms and ammunition, then went back to their barracks. that is a lie. talk to some high military people. the general that was in africa. talk to -- there are lies going on. it is a complete cover up. then people murdered those four people. they were murdered. i called treason for another reason. the ambassador -- there are others like you make point of sites,there were other the british embassy, the red
9:57 am
cross embassy was located there. they were under attack and other previous months and they left. our ambassador kept asking for more security, ok? they turned it down twice. there is always a marine detachment at every embassy in the world. common sense would have told you on 9/11 or nine/12, there should've been a marine detachment there, which was never sent. don't tell me you can't afford it. there's a book out that they spent $100 billion of wasted money and don't even mention said. and you can take $6 billion and pay veterans right now based on the waste that is going on in his government. there is constant cover-up between -- take the president and the previous secretary of state hillary clinton, and asked them and they know nothing about the irs, nothing about benghazi, they know nothing. they should not be in office if
9:58 am
they don't know anything. they're either incompetent or have people on their staff that don't tell them nothing. listen to the news or your program or any other program. host: here's an e-mail who says -- "usa today" say were presented utaho was a republican of who is leading an investigation for the house oversight committee said the senate intelligence report is evidence the state cap security minimal to given impression u.s. policy libya was a success for the obama administration. "the bottom-line is hillary clinton one of the appearance of normalization in libya. security was not driving these decisions, politics was." a spokesman for the state department calls that 100% false.
9:59 am
columbus, georgia, democratic caller. uh.er: host: you had to make it quick. caller: most of the people been talking -- ok. people don't understand they chose to stay there. you take money to run these places. you don't think it takes money to go to iraq, all those places that were bombed continuously with all kinds of marines and all kinds of soldiers around? he did not want the people to look like he couldn't handle it, so that is why he refused the help. all these people jumping on this,, the people got kids? we all know they got kids. however, it was nobody's fault. get's what you giet --
10:00 am
when you serve. host: the house is about to come into session. if you want to read this report, go to c-span.org. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., january 16, 2014. i hereby appoint the honorable kevin yoder to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father
117 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CSPAN Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on