Karl Rove, Juan Williams Get In Heated Argument Over Benghazi
ROVE: Howie raised an interesting question. Who is in charge of security? You know, who -- the question of why was there no military response? Why were assets not immediately, 5:00 in the afternoon Washington time. Why weren't aircraft not put into the air? Why was there no effort to get assistance on the ground? Who was really responsible for the security at the consulate? There are lots of questions left unanswered here. And I think we may have one more chance for them to be answered during the hearings on Victoria Nuland.
We'll see if the Republicans on the Senate do something about it. But my understanding is members are thinking through these questions and they are asking these questions during the process.
WALLACE: Juan, and there is no question about the fact that the president went around the country for several weeks this summer talking about phony scandals. And you don't have to scratch very far in the White House to find people who say this is just -- that this is a partisan effort by Republicans to exploit a tragedy. Do you agree with that?
WILLIAMS: Yeah. I think there is look -- there is not one shred of evidence that the White House knew about this beforehand, they covered up anything.
ROVE: Knew about what?
WILLIAMS: Knew about this attack. There are all sorts of allegations up on the Hill coming from Republicans.
ROVE: I don't hear that.
WILLIAMS: You know, what -- what really drives me ...
ROVE: What are you talking about?
WILLIAMS: What really drives me is you have had an accountability review board coming, make 29 recommendations. State Department has accepted just about every one of them.
WALLACE: Spoke to the secretary of state.
WILLIAMS: Look, based -- look, the secretary of state at the time, Hillary Clinton, has testified on Capitol Hill.
WALLACE: And dismissed the whole issue.
WILLIAMS: Another -- we just make one other point. The big argument coming from Republicans for most of this time was, there was a stand down order given from Washington or from the military command that we could have gone in and saved those people, but the stand-down order was given. Well, now we have Lieutenant Colonel Gibson, who was in charge of Special Forces in Libya saying, no, no stand down order was ever given.
HUME: They just told them not to go. They didn't call it a stand down order. WILLIAMS: OK, so in other words, then, we don't have anything. A year later, we do have an indictment, and Eric Holder, the attorney general, has said more is coming shortly. But to make a scandal out of this, it really -- that's why you say this is not going away. Let me tell you, this has gone away.
ROVE: No, it hasn't. The American people were lied to. Somebody concocted a deliberate lie that this was all -- it was not a terrorist attack, this was a spontaneous reaction to a video that no one saw. The American people had a legitimate question, why were efforts not undertaken to save our people?
WILLIAMS: But the efforts were made.
ROVE: No, they weren't.
(CROSSTALK)
ROVE: With all due respect, no assets were put in motion.
(CROSSTALK)
ROVE: U.S. military on the ground in Tripoli were told, don't go to Benghazi.
WILLIAMS: No, no. There was no stand-down order. What we had is, don't go in after the fact when we don't know what you are getting into, and it could result in more American deaths.
ROVE: Yes, don't go. Don't go. That's the important thing. Do not go.
WILLIAMS: There is a difference, Karl, there is a huge difference.
ROVE: Remember what that Marine said, remember what he said. He said it was the first time in the history that he could remember that a member of the U.S. foreign service had more cojones than somebody in the military.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Karl, you're all in the weeds here.
(CROSSTALK)
ROVE: It's not in the weeds, with all due respect, Juan. It's not in the weeds.
WILLIAMS: What's in the weeds is the fact that you continue to prosecute (ph)--
(CROSSTALK)
ROVE: -- a deliberate lie to the American people.
WILLIAMS: Stop living in the past and trying to get after Susan Rice or whoever. This has nothing to do with the death of Ambassador Stephens.
ROVE: You're right. Susan Rice or whoever. We don't know who is responsible for lying to the American people.
WILLIAMS: Nothing to do with the death of our ambassador.
ROVE: You may be comfortable, you may be comfortable with the American people being told a deliberate lie by the administration, but I'm not, and I think that we need to get to the bottom of this.
WILLIAMS: Karl, you can continue to raise your voice and --
ROVE: Why was no effort made to save those Americans?
WILLIAMS: -- but it does not speak to the heart of the issue.
(CROSSTALK)
KURTZ: -- it's not over as evidenced by the emotions at this table one year later.
HUME: And one more thing. Think of the list, I mean, going around the table here, the list of questions that remain unanswered to this day are what make this still a legitimate topic for conversation. And meanwhile, I'm sorry to say, this is simply not over.
WILLIAMS: It's gone, baby. It's in your head. That's about the only place.
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