WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, has some harsh words for the recently released Benghazi report, led by his own party.
“I think the report is full of crap,” Graham told Gloria Borger on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“I don’t believe that the report is accurate, given the role that Mike Morell (deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time) played in misleading the Congress on two different occasions. Why didn’t the report say that?”
The investigative report Graham is referring to was released Friday by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, and Ranking Member Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland.
The report finds little to support the questions that have been raised about CIA actions on the ground in Benghazi the night of the deadly attack on September 11, 2012.
Graham, who has maintained a critical voice in the Benghazi controversy over the past two years, says it’s “garbage” that the report finds no members of the Obama administration lied to cover up what happened in Benghazi.
“That’s a bunch of garbage,” Graham said. “That’s a complete bunch of garbage.”
The investigation also found the security at the diplomatic outpost was weak and also described a “flawed” process used to create talking points for House members and for then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose public statements after the attack incensed critics who said the administration was trying to avoid calling the attack terrorism.
“When Susan Rice was on television after the attack, she said on three different occasions the consulate was strongly, and significantly secure,” Graham said. “Nothing could be further than that from the truth, and there’s nothing in the talking points about the level of security.”
To conclude, Graham says the findings of the report prove the House Intelligence Committee “is doing a lousy job policing their own.”
“Anybody who has followed Benghazi at all knows that the CIA deputy director did not come forward to tell Congress what role he played in changing the talking points and the only way we knew he was involved is when he told a representative at the White House,” Graham said.
Asked why the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee would be “buying a bunch of garbage,” Graham simply replied, “good question.”
Graham said he is going to take another look at the findings of the report.
“I’m going to do a hard review of this.”
