(Washington Times) The chairman of a special House committee created to investigate the 2012 Benghazi tragedy on Monday instructed his staff to review secretly recorded tapes and intelligence reports that detail Hillary Rodham Clinton’s role in advocating and executing the war in Libya, opening the door for a possible expansion of his probe.

Rep. Trey Gowdy’s decision to seek a review of the materials, first highlighted in a series of Washington Times stories last week, carries consequences for the 2016 election in which Mrs. Clinton is expected to seek the presidency. It could also move the committee to examine the strained relationship between the State Department and Pentagon, which sharply disagreed over the 2011 war in Libya and the response to the terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi a year later.
The Times reported last week that U.S. intelligence did not support Mrs. Clinton’s story of an impending genocide in Libya that she used to sell the war against Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. The newspaper also unveiled secretly recorded tapes from Libya that showed that the Pentagon and Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich so distrusted her stewardship of the war that they opened their own diplomatic channels with the Gadhafi regime. (more…)

The Washington Times has a strong exclusive story outlining the Hillary Clinton drive for regime change in Libya 2011. The article is quite well presented with never before heard tapes between U.S. officials and Gaddaffi loyalists who were trying to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
The article outlines many of the issues our previous research also uncovered, and presents the contrast between the Pentagon position and the State Department during the crisis in Libya.
However, there is one substantive factual flaw when the Washington Times outlines Hillary’s motive for regime change.
The author writes about the motive from the position of the known visible narrative chosen by Hillary to remove Gaddaffi. Which was to avoid a “humanitarian crisis”, similar to the Rwanda massacre. (more…)

According to Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, Hillary Clinton is eager to present herself for testimony to the Congressional Select Benghazi Committee. Obviously the Democrats  would prefer it to be ASAP -and- we predict within a few weeks you will see a shift in strategy which will put Gowdy solidly back on his heels and marginalize his position.
According to Trey Gowdy the State Department is hiding documents and blocking witness testimony – which he demands prior to interviewing Hillary Clinton.  The Democrats scoff at his claims saying bazillions of pages, hearings, testimonials, and documents have been provided.  Cummings is playing Chess, Gowdy is playing checkers.
The White House, the State Department, and the Democrats on the panel have a well-planned strategy to derail any political risk stemming from Benghazi; and even though I know many readers are fans of Gowdy, it appears he is being played like a finely tuned instrument.

(more…)

Sharyl Attkisson has provided some new information on the closed door Benghazi Select Committee hearings and investigative inquiry.

Including the following from Trey Gowdy:

[…]  “The committee is continuing its probe into all aspects of Benghazi and is currently focused on ensuring access to all first-hand accounts from those on the ground that night. This process will be ongoing and in some respects must remain classified.”–Benghazi Select Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.

We took a lot of fire -following the Benghazi Brief– when we explained why this would be the case.  The risks of sunlight are essentially equal to both Republicans -who approved the program(s) basic goals via intelligence oversight- and Democrats alike.
Apparently we were correct.

Predictable in the extreme.  Those who have followed events can see through the timing of this announcement and identify the agenda/motive.  The recommendation of charges against Petraeus is cover fire for a Hillary Clinton presidential bid.

As outlined in the Benghazi Brief, the only player in the joint CIA/State Department Libyan operation “Zero Footprint” -that resulted in the Benghazi attack- who was an extreme risk to Team Hillary Clinton, was David Petraeus. 

Operation Zero Footprint began with Leon Panetta, prior to Petraeus tenure as leader of the CIA.   When Benghazi erupted Petraeus became a risk – enter Mike Morrell.

Paula Broadwell let it slip (video below) that the Benghazi CIA Annex was a black ops rendition site in Eastern Libya tasked with two general purposes.  Vetting the “rebels” and al-Qaeda operatives, and jointly repurchasing the Clinton weapons, primarily the MANPADS.

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.

The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public. (more…)

♦ About 2,500,000 people visit The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York every year. The Last Refuge was viewed about 19,000,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at MoMA, it would take about 8 years for that many people to see it.  Click here to see the complete report.
2014 was a year of numerous researched stories that gained interest from a multitude of media outlets.   The research provided by you was the impetus for several MSM stories that gained attention.  Without your relentless quest for the truth behind the headlines many of these stories would not have been told.
Here’s the Top Five research articles, as selected by us, that made a difference: (more…)

The Mike Rogers/Dutch Ruppersberger report was predictable in the extreme; anyone who has researched the surrounding issues of the Benghazi backstory knew to expect it:

…”with Rep Trey Gowdy’s Chairmanship of a Select Committee on Benghazi anticipated to start up again in January, and with House Intel Chair Rogers exiting from congress, the authors of this report hold a motive to undercut Gowdy’s investigation into the missing 2011/2012 intelligence oversight that would normally be part of Rogers/Ruppersberger’s responsibility.”…

In addition, the media skipping gleefully in circles while waving the Rogers/Ruppersberger report, was similarly predictable – as seen here in this recent CNN interview.

However, despite how much the media want to avoid the sunlight there are too many people who understand the motives of Mike Rogers, including his own financial stake in the Benghazi security contract. Here’s a great op-ed outlining some of that understanding. It is well worth reading: (more…)

Those of you familiar with the Benghazi Brief will note the alignment and expectation of the Rogers/Ruppersberger report.  Their report is exactly as we anticipated it would be.
With a House Select Committee (Trey Gowdy) already in place, you might rightly ask yourself why did Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger even produce a report?  As you read their House Intelligence Panel Report on Benghazi it is important to note a few key aspects:

• Both Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger are members of the Congressional Gang of Eight.  They are the ONLY authors.

• This is not a House Intelligence “Committee” report on Benghazi.  This is only two committee members writing a report based on prior information.

• Both Rogers and Ruppersberger would have been briefed on the CIA operations in Benghazi during 2011/2012 as the covert operation began.

• President Obama signed a finding memo in 2011 permitting Operation Zero Footprint to begin. The congressional “gang of eight” held oversight responsibilities.

• Rogers, Ruppersberger along with Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Saxby Chambliss and Diane Feinstein would have been notified of the presidential authorization. In 2011 they were the congressional Gang of Eight.  Their lack of oversight reflected a willful blindness to the operation.

• In addition to the covert Zero Footprint Operation, the Benghazi CIA annex served as a rendition site. [We find this out in 2013 from Paula Broadwell, who was the pillow-talk recipient of information from 2012 CIA Director General David Petraeus. Broadwell and Petraeus had an extramarital affair.]

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The Rogers/Ruppersberger Report is specifically designed, by wording, to provide political cover to both parties – Republicans and Democrats within the Gang of Eight particularly  included, and protected.
It is professional obfuscation in structure, content and wording. Here’s an example: (more…)

They’re trying to flood the field ahead of Thanksgiving, it’s brutally obvious.  This is classic use of “the bathtub principle” at work:

Today IRS reports recovery of 30,000 Lois Lerner emails from ’09 to ’11

Today House Intel “Panel” Releases Benghazi Report

Today Obama gives speech on highly anticipated immigration Executive Order

Today media and nation await Saint Louis Mike Brown shooting verdict. 100 FBI agents dispatched to Ferguson

DOJ Releases 40,000+ Fast and Furious documents (emails)

HHS Admits ObamaCare enrollment overstated.

If you have read the Treehouse Benghazi Brief you already knew to expect this outcome.  However, it’s important to note who conducted the investigation and published the report:

…[…] “We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and emails, and held a total of 20 committee events and hearings,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee’s chairman, and Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the ranking Democrat, in a joint statement.

Both Mike Rogers and Dutch Ruppersberger were members of the “Gang of Eight” who were fully aware of operation Zero Footprint in 2011 which led to the Benghazi issues:

FULLY RESEARCHED:  “THE BENGHAZI BRIEF” HERE

TODAY: WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees. (more…)