Letter: Hillary Clinton prevented by law from defending herself on Benghazi

I can tell you exactly what happened in Benghazi ... but then I’d have to kill you. It’s likely that Hillary Clinton, and certainly David Petraeus, and eight congressional committees all know what happened at Benghazi.

The confused story about offensive films and “talking points” are not coherent, but anyone who publicly released precise intelligence information immediately after the attack could probably have been prosecuted for releasing classified information. Unfortunately, only Hillary Clinton has a problem because of this situation, though she obviously was not in tactical command (y’know, the “stand-down” nonsense) during the attack and had nothing to gain politically by withholding the truth.

There are several plausible scenarios, and no matter which is the real one, there is no reason to be so concerned about emails or the way in which the public was informed, or misinformed, about the episode.

Broadly, if the public was misinformed, the reason likely stems from a “protection of sources” constraint. If Petraeus’ unreleased testimony were declassified and made public, this would undoubtedly clear up the whole matter and embarrass about 14 Republican candidates who know the truth and also know that Hillary Clinton is prevented by law from defending herself.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Letter: Hillary Clinton prevented by law from defending herself on Benghazi."