Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday he believed outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "got away with murder" on her testimony on last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi.
"I haven’t forgotten about Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view," Graham told Fox News. "She said they had a clear-eyed view of the threats. How could you have a clear-eyed view of the threats in Benghazi when you didn’t know about the ambassador’s cable coming back from Libya?"
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens sent the State Department a cable warning of "unpredictable, volatile and violent" security conditions in Libya a month before the attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya, that left him and three other foreign service workers dead. Republicans have pointed to that Aug. 2 cable as evidence that the Obama administration should have afforded Stevens better security.
In emotional testimony last week before the Senate and House, Clinton said she took "responsibility" for the security failings.
"It is our responsibility to make sure they have the resources they need to do their jobs and to do everything we can to reduce the risks they face," Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "For me, this is not just a matter of policy — it’s personal."
Graham also
reiterated his threat to block the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to lead the Defense Department unless the current
secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, agrees to testify on the Benghazi attack.
"The one thing I’m not going to do is vote on a new secretary of Defense until the old secretary of defense, Leon Panetta, who I like very much, testifies about what happened in Benghazi,” said Graham.
Graham did not rule out an eventual vote for Hagel, however, telling Fox News host Greta Van Susteren that "it will depend on what he says in the hearing Thursday."
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