Morell: I Thought Benghazi Attack Was Both Terrorism and Caused by Protests

Former CIA deputy director Michael Morell, who played a key role in shaping the Obama administration’s talking points for the 2012 attack in Benghazi that resulted in the death of four Americans, told the House Intelligence Committee he thought at the time that the attacks were sparked by both violent demonstrations and terrorism

“I believed what my analysts said that there was a protest — I also believed it to be a terrorist attack,” Morell said on Wednesday. “See, we never saw those two things as mutually exclusive, so I believed both of those at the same time.”

Morell was skeptical of those within the administration shocked by Susan Rice’s blaming protests over a YouTube video for the attacks during her appearances on the following Sunday talk shows. He said they should have been initially surprised by the same explanation in the talking points that were provided days before.