Graham: Clinton ‘asleep at the switch’

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of being “asleep at the switch” during the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. 

Graham also wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday that “the dam is about to break” on the terrorist assault that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

{mosads}“I think the dam is about to break on Benghazi. We’re going to find a system failure before, during, and after the attacks,” Graham wrote. “We’re going to find political manipulation seven weeks before an election. We’re going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton.”


Republicans have accused the Obama administration of not being forthcoming in the circumstances surrounding the attack and of being ill-prepared to deal with the possibility of an attack in the combustible region.

“The bond that has been broken between those who serve us in harm’s way and the government they serve is huge — and to me every bit as damaging as Watergate,” Graham continued.

On Monday, House Republicans released portions of an interview with State Department whistle-blower Gregory Hicks, who took over as the top U.S. diplomat in Libya after Stevens was killed.

 

Hicks told investigators that U.S. forces were prepared to fly in to provide support to the besieged compound, but were told to stand down. The claim contradicts previous testimony from Obama administration officials who said all available resources in the region were utilized during the attack.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee, accused Republicans of leaking “selective and distorted” portions of Hicks’s testimony to “drum up hearing publicity.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday defended the administration’s description of the attacks, saying the State Department had conducted a “rigorous and unsparing” assessment of the events.

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