Republican Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo blasted Hillary Clinton Tuesday arguing that in the events surrounding the Benghazi terrorist attack, she put her “political legacy ahead of the safety and security” of the Americans on the ground.
In an interview with The Daily Caller from the Republican National Convention, referring to Clinton’s testimony before the House Benghazi Committee in October 2015, Pompeo said, “I am completely convinced that she told known falsehoods. That’s perjury in legal terms.” (RELATED: Issa On Perjury Charge For Hillary: ‘It’s Very Clear’ She Knew She Wasn’t Telling The Truth)
Clinton “didn’t tell us the truth, she ought to be held accountable,” Pompeo said. The former secretary of state “told us that she didn’t send information marked classified, well we now know, you don’t have to take my word for it, you can look at the documents and listen the director of the FBI, Mr. Comey. He knows that she did and she knew it too.” (RELATED: Comey Confirms Hillary Clinton Lied To The Public About Her Emails [VIDEO])
“She told the American people a story about a video and a protest and we now know there was no evidence of that and at no time did she truly believe that,” Pompeo said, “Indeed, we saw the email to her daughter, where she told her daughter it was a terrorist attack within hours of the incident. And then you know they continued to deceive the American people about their efforts to rescue these four brave men.”
Regarding the Obama/Clinton response to the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Pompeo said, “Look, we were 56 days out from a presidential election and Secretary Clinton had a political legacy to protect. It was her policy in Libya that she was trying to defend. And so a terrorist attack on US soil that killed four Americans was something that she had to try and avoid talking about.”
Clinton “knew almost immediately this was Ansar Al Sharia, a radical Islamic terrorist group and yet she said privately something different. I think for one reason and one reason only: to protect her political legacy, that of her boss President Obama and for that she should absolutely should be held accountable. Putting your own political legacy ahead of the safety and security of the people you send into harm’s way is abhorrent and I’ve said this before, I find her actions that day morally reprehensible.”
Pompeo also shared with The DC his meeting with one of the Benghazi heroes John Tiegen, Pompeo said, “I just had a chance to be handed a dog tag to commemorate the four who were killed that night. It is still emotional for me in that sense. These were four folks who America didn’t move heaven and earth to go save and for that President Obama and Secretary Clinton need to be held accountable to.”