A congressional source familiar with the testimony delivered Thursday by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says that, in his testimony, Clapper was insistent that he did not alter the Benghazi talking points to remove references to al-Qaeda or terrorism. That raises questions about the latest CBS news report indicating that the talking points were edited in Clapper’s office. It was there, according to CBS, where ‘al-Qaeda’ and ‘terrorism’ disappeared from the unclassified version of the document that later found its way into the hands of UN Ambassador Susan Rice, and onto five Sunday morning news shows.
Senator Saxby Chambliss, the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also made statements on Fox News Sunday that call the CBS report into question. Chambliss told Chris Wallace that, in Thursday’s hearings, “every leader” in the intelligence community was asked if he knew who changed the talking points. Nobody knew. “The only entity that reviewed the talking points that was not there,” Chambliss said, “was the White House.”