Politifact says that Trump’s assertion that Hillary Clinton ‘slept’ while Benghazi happened is FALSE.
Really? I can’t even believe they rated this one, because I didn’t get the impression he was speaking explicitly literal.
Here’s what they said:
Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton slept through the Benghazi attack, missing the proverbial 3 a.m. phone call.
In a June 22 speech, Trump said Clinton’s decisions as secretary of state “spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched. Among the victims was our late Ambassador Chris Stevens. I mean what she did with him was absolutely horrible. He was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed. That’s right. When the phone rang, as per the commercial, at 3:00 in the morning, Hillary Clinton was sleeping.”
Trump even cites the proverbial commercial about the 3am wake up call. He’s clearly not speaking literally here, but Politifact assumes he is:
Trump has made this claim before. Was Clinton really asleep in her bed Sept. 11, 2012, while terrorists killed four Americans in the Libyan city of Benghazi?
No. The, attack took place at about 9:30 p.m. Benghazi time, or 3:30 in the afternoon Washington time on a Tuesday. Clinton was at her State Department office.
For her part, Clinton has said in her memoir Hard Choices and in congressional testimony that she worked late into the night and did not sleep, though she did work from her Washington home for at least part of the night. We cannot independently confirm what she did that night, but we do know she released a public statement after 10 p.m. and emailed her daughter, Chelsea, after 11 p.m.
They go on to explain how the military was responsible for rescuing our people in Libya, not Hillary and her State Department. In fact they say Hillary is basically blameless, per House and Senate investigations.
Of course, what they don’t mention is how the Obama admin has stonewalled when it comes to turning over emails and evidence, and Hillary actually deleted her emails before turning them over to the State Dept.
So to suggest she did nothing wrong based on these investigations is disingenuous.
But back to the point.
They say the attack began around 3:30 DC time. As Amanda Carpenter reminds us, the attack went for 13 hours:
The attack when on for 13 hours. Heard of that? There's a film by the name. Ppl slept while it went on. https://t.co/NkczXLMz7g
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 23, 2016
Sheesh, the Politifact even confirms she went home that evening. Why didn't she stay at State Dept. for those 13 hours? That's the point.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 23, 2016
Perhaps Clinton did stay up all night from home. But Politifact can't confirm either way. If they don't know they can't rate Trump "false."
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 23, 2016
I'm happy to say when Trump lies outright, as I often do, but this is a gray area and he has every right to draw atten to fact she went home
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) June 23, 2016
Exactly. The fact that these men died on her watch is really the point. We know the State Dept. ignored needed security improvements to the consulate weeks and months before. And with all the terrorist activity in Benghazi, Stevens was still allowed to be in Benghazi meeting with a rep from Turkey. And after the attack happened, the State Dept. never requested military backup to rescue Stevens and the others.
And then to top it all off Hillary lied about it.
So forgive me if I can’t really be upset at Trump’s portrayal of Hillary being asleep or not. It doesn’t matter. They died on her watch and no one has been held accountable for it. No one!