Itchy on Yahoo News: A new focus on John Bentel in e-mail scandal

[grasswire]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-sleuths-focus-ex-state-000000777.html

The role of John Bentel, whose identity as a key figure in the email probes was first reported by Yahoo News on Wednesday, is expected to be one focus of questioning today when Clinton’s former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, is deposed in a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch over the State Department’s handling of Freedom of Information Act requests relating to Clinton’s emails, according to a source close to the case.

snip

Bentel served as the chief of “Information Resource Management” — essentially, the top official in charge of internal communications, security issues and record-keeping — inside the State Department’s Executive Secretariat, the professional support staff for the secretary of state. In late 2010, according to the inspector general’s report, two staffers inside his office, in separate meetings, raised concerns that Clinton’s private emails could contain government records that needed to be preserved — a standard requirement under a 1950 law known as the Federal Records Act.

One of the staffers told the inspector general that Bentel responded that Clinton’s private email account had been “reviewed and approved by Department legal staff” and “that the matter was not to be discussed any further.” In fact, according to the inspector general’s report, State Department lawyers had never approved Clinton’s use of a private email server for government communications, nor were they ever consulted about it.

The second staffer who raised concerns told the inspector general that Bentel responded that the mission of the office “is to support the Secretary and instructed the staff never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.”

[amborin]

1. Clinton Got Chris Stevens' name wrong:

Among 296 emails released in a State Department data dump before the Memorial Day weekend was one in which Ms. Clinton referred to U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens, murdered in Libya, as “Chris Smith.” The secretary of state can be excused for not knowing the names of her ambassadors to Botswana or Paraguay. But Libya was the focal point of administration policy at the time. She should have been talking to Mr. Stevens often enough to remember his name.

The emails Ms. Clinton turned over to State reflect so poorly on her that one wonders what was in the emails she deleted

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/05/31/clintons_corruption_126800.html

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Only 6 serving Ambassadors have been murdered in this country's entire history.

I'm still gobsmacked at how quickly the government was able to deflect the seriousness of the event and how quickly the public bit on the next shiny thing.

[amborin]

5. yes, and there is a lot more info out there about how

they were funneling weapons to Syria, etc.....

[unc70]

9. We at DU knew at the time

Within the first week after the attack we were discussing the CIA and arms to Syria aspects of the story. I will look up my posts about this and link to a couple of threads back then.

DU has traditionally been excellent at piecing together what is really going on. We have many experts in almost any field, any business, any location worldwide. And we are news junkies who suck in and retain information of all types.

DU is currently crippled by those desiring to thwart those focused on assembly the facts and making sense of things.

[amborin]

10. yes,

it would be great is you could assemble those posts and articles about the CIA activity out of the embassy.

We need to get this info to the public asap.

[unc70]

11. Benghazi and CIA - what we knew early at DU

Benghazi and CIA - what we knew at DU

Here are several posts from DU with links to other sources from the weeks immediately after Benghazi. There was early discussion that the State Department did not list a consulate in Benghazi and of reports that Benghazi was the center for collecting and shipping US arms from Libya stockpiles to rebel groups in Syria.

I will collect some other interesting threads from that period and make an OP out of it. There was a lot going on at that time including Petraeus scandal.



Did the US actually have a consulate in Benghazi? Or was it only a CIA post?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021588331


It was a CIA Operation

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125120339


What we knew in 2012 - CIA and Benghazi
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027280827

[grasswire]

6. !!! nt

[JudyM]

2. Wonder who else he said that to and about what. This calls for a broader compliance investigation.

That response is symptomatic of a cultural environment of question at your own peril. Or are we to expect that it is just this one guy who had those marching orders? What else were staffers supposed to not question her about?

[antigop]

3. “This really is crucial new information,” nt

[grasswire]

7. Itchy is the old nickname for Michael Isikoff.

I should have mentioned that.

[Barack_America]

8. Ah, has the sacrificial lamb been chosen?

No doubt he "lied" to Clinton about the server having been approved.