It was bad enough when we found out Obama did not monitor the attack on the Benghazi compound, but now thanks to Trey Gowdy’s committee on Benghazi, we find out that Obama was so disinterested about the attack, that he didn’t even bother showing up for the intelligence briefing the very next morning.
The revelation is buried in one of the appendices to the 800-page report released by the Republican-controlled committee Tuesday. According to the Executive Coordinator tasked with delivering the daily briefings, she first delivered the briefing to White House chief of staff Jack Lew. But instead of giving Obama a briefing, she gave the folder to a White House usher.
That day’s briefing contained a sentence claiming “the presence of armed assailants from the outset suggests this was an intentional assault and not the escalation of a peaceful protest.” In the following days, White House press secretary Jay Carney and U.N. ambassador Susan Rice claimed the attack was instead the result of a spontaneous protest of a YouTube video.
So, the very next morning in the intelligence briefing, it was confirmed that everyone was quite aware that it was a terrorist attack and not a protest over an internet video. The administration proclaimed the attack was over the video for weeks. By missing the meeting (Since being elected, he has missed 60% of all briefings on intelligence) he may have given himself plausible deniability by claiming he was never told it was a terror attack.
Obama’s activities during and after the attack have long been a matter of mystery, with the White House refusing to comment on the matter. During the 2012 presidential election, Obama was attacked by Republicans for flying to Las Vegas for a campaign fundraiser the day after the attack.