Susan Rice: NSA Officials Didn’t Lie, They ‘Inadvertently Made False Representations’

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

National Security Advisor Susan Rice appeared on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes with Lesley Stahl, and one of the issues she addressed was the continued fallout from the Edward Snowden NSA leaks. Rice argued that NSA officials didn’t lie about intel dragnets, they just “inadvertently made false representations.” This statement comes as House Republicans are demanding a criminal probe for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper for his flat-out denial in March, three months before the Snowden leaks began, that the NSA collects data on hundreds of millions of Americans (a denial that Clapper later categorized as the “least untruthful”answer he could have provided).

RELATED: Reliable Sources Panel Knocks 60 Minutes: ‘Who Deputized CBS’ to Tell NSA’s Side of the Story?

After expressing the opinion that Snowden should “be sent back” to the U.S. and “face justice,” Rice faced Stahl’s questioning about whether NSA officials have lied to Congress or not. Here’s the exchange:

STAHL: “Officials in the intelligence community have actually been untruthful both to the American public in hearings, in Congress, and to the FISA court.”

RICE: “There have been cases where they have inadvertently made false representations, and they themselves have discovered it and corrected it.”

Rice also asserted that NSA surveillance has been worth is and “the fact that we have not had a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11 should not be diminished.”

The segment elicited some criticism (though not as much as last week’s NSA puff piece) on Twitter, including from Glenn Greenwald and actor John Cusack.

Watch the video below, via CBS:

VIA: MEDIAITE.COM

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‘She Was Targeted’: The Five Clashes Over Lara Logan Suspension

The hosts of The Five debated Wednesday whether CBS News was right to suspend Lara Loganfollowing an internal investigation into the botched 60 Minutes Benghazi report. Brian Kilmeade was convinced that Logan was “targeted” for her outspokenness on the Benghazi attacks, while Andrea Tantaros admitted that despite Logan’s reputation and reporting chops, CBS News made the right decision in suspending her.

Kilmeade highlighted how Logan previously spoke out in favor of going after the perpetrators of the Benghazi attack, calling it “the entire reason she’s paying the price right now.” Bob Beckel, however, wondered if her passion and emotions “colored her 60 Minutes piece” and so she was desperate enough to believe a liar and “didn’t use her normally good journalistic judgment.”

Eric Bolling defended 60 Minutes, urging caution and saying, “We can’t make the leap and say 60 Minutes rushed to judgment and gave her time off because she made a mistake.”

Andrea Tantaros brought up the fact that CBS News head/60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager did not get in trouble, and in the internal report released he “acts as judge and jury on this matter, rather than a co-defendant.” Kilmeade found it discouraging CBS didn’t stand behind Logan, but Tantaros said, “They’re making an example of her.” And because of the journalistic reputation 60 Minutes need to uphold, the suspension makes sense from their point of view.

Watch the video below, via Fox News:

Via: Mediaite.com

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CBS 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan Apologizes for Erroneous Benghazi Survivor Report: ‘We Were Wrong’

CBS 60 Minutes reporter Lara Logan admitted on Friday that a person who claimed to have been witness to the deadly September 11, 2012 attack on an American consulate in Benghazi and who served as the centerpiece of a recent report on that attack may have misled her. 

In late October, 60 Minutes ran a report featuring the account of British security expert Dylan Davies – though he called himself Morgan Jones – who recounted in detail his actions in the early morning hours during the Benghazi attack.

It was later revealed that Davies told the FBI he did not visit the American diplomatic compound on the night of the attack and had not, as he claimed, seen the body of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

RELATED: CBS News, Lara Logan Defend Controversial 60 Minutes Benghazi Report

“The most important thing to every person is the truth and today the truth is we made a mistake,” Logan said. “That’s very disappointing for any journalist.”

“Nobody likes to admit that they made a mistake, but if you do, you have to stand up and take responsibility and you have to say that you were wrong,” she continued. “And in this case we were wrong.”

Logan recounted how CBS became aware of an incident report which led 60 Minutes reporters to question his account only after their interview with Davies had aired.

Logan said that they had thoroughly investigated Davies story prior to airing his report, including reviewing his communications with American officials and viewing his personal photographs of the scene of the attack on the morning after.

“We take the vetting of sources and stories very seriously,” Logan added. “But we were misled and we were wrong and that’s the important thing.”

Earlier in the week, Logan defended the 60 Minutes report which already was being called into question in a number of press outlets. She said that the book The Embassy House, written under Davies’ Morgan Jones pseudonym, “he never had two stories.”

“Why would you stand by this report after Dylan Davies admitted lying to his own employer,” CBS This Morning anchor Norah O’Donnell asked.

“Because, he was very up front about that from the beginning,” Logan replied. “That was always part of his story.”

Logan said that 60 Minutes will apologize and correct the record this coming Sunday night.

Via: Mediaite.com

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Report: First Western Eyewitness In Benghazi To Go Public Gives Account Of Attack

The first Western eyewitness to the deadly Benghazi terror attacks has given an account of the seven-hour assault on the U.S. outpost in Libya and says Americans knew such an incident was inevitable.

The witness -- a former British soldier who for decades helped protect U.S. diplomats and military leaders -- told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that Al Qaeda forces first attacked the U.S. Special Mission Compound in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed. Then they launched a second attack on a secret CIA annex about a mile across the city.

“They knew what they were doing,” the security guard told CBS. “That was a well-executed attack.”

The guard said he was in his apartment about 15 minutes away from the attacks when he learned of them through a frantic phone call from a Libyan guard.

“I could hear gunshots,” said the guard, “And he said, ‘There are men coming into the mission’ … You could tell he was really scared and he was running.”

The guard said that when he asked for details the other guard said: “We're getting attacked. … They're all over the compound."

Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks.

Via: Fox News

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[VIDEO] CONGRESSWOMAN FUNNELED $294,245 IN CAMPAIGN CASH TO HERSELF

Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) has bagged at least $294,245 since 1998 by loaning her congressional campaign money at interest rates up to 18%--a scheme that effectively funneled campaign contributor donations directly into her personal bank account.

The self-loan ruse was exposed Sunday night during a joint investigation by 60 Minutes and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer based on Schweizer’s forthcoming book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets.

After numerous attempts to interview Napolitano, Kroft finally confronted her outside a Hispanic Caucus meeting.

“She told us that as a woman and a minority, banks wouldn’t lend her money, so she had to withdraw $150,000 from an investment account to lend it to her campaign,” said Kroft.

Kroft then questioned why she would charge 18% interest. “That’s what the Mafia gets,” said Kroft.

“It isn’t like I’ve really profited,” said Napolitano. “I still live in the same house. I drive a small car. I am not a billionaire, or a millionaire, for that matter.”

Schweizer exposes Napolitano’s self-loan money extraction technique in Extortion.

In 1998, Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA) loaned her congressional campaign $150,000 at a staggering 18% interest. Napolitano then let the loan linger unpaid for 20 years. In the first decade of the loan, Napolitano bagged $200,000 in interest payments. Then in 2006, Napolitano lowered the interest rate to 10% and kept drawing interest checks. In the 2008 and 2010 elections, the California Democrat pocketed another $94,245 in interest.

Presently, Schweizer, who appeared Monday morning on CBS Early Show, says the self-loan scheme is legal under congressional rules. The only stipulation is that lawmakers must charge a “commercially reasonable” interest rate on the loans they make to their campaigns—a term of art that is undefined and almost never enforced.

“Napolitano is a longtime member of the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Transportation Committee, which means that donations from industries in those areas were not only donating to her campaign but also putting money in her pocket,” said Schweizer in Extortion.

The publisher of Schweizer's book, Houghton Mifflin, says the book contains myriad revelations and never-before-published documents on top Democrats, Republicans, President Barack Obama, and Attorney General Eric Holder. 

Via: Breitbart

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'60 Minutes’ Interview Causes Headache For White House

AP

’60 Minutes’ interview causes headache for White House

President Obama, in agreeing to a lengthy interview with "60 Minutes," may have created his own "bump in the road."

The president was facing heavy criticism from Republicans Monday for, in the course of that interview, referring to Middle East unrest as "bumps in the road," conceding "mistakes" in campaign ads and appearing to dismiss concern about Iran's nuclear program as "noise."

Romney's campaign seized on all three of those comments, and by Monday afternoon was hammering the president for the Middle East remark -- perhaps in a bid to return the favor after Democrats kept Romney against the wall last week defending his hidden-camera remarks on the "47 percent" of Americans who don't pay taxes. In the CBS interview, Obama said supporting the Arab Spring was the "right thing" to do but acknowledged there would be "bumps in the road" in the process.

"These are no bumps in the road. These are human lives," Romney retorted at a campaign stop in Colorado. On ABC News, Romney also said: "I can't imagine saying something like the assassination of ambassadors is a bump in the road."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was hit with a string of questions at Monday's briefing about the "60 Minutes" interview. The most aggressive accusation by the Romney campaign merited the most aggressive response from Carney.

The accusation about Obama's Middle East comments, Carney said Monday, is "both desperate and offensive."

He rejected the idea that the president was minimizing the recent violence -- in which four Americans were killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi and others have been killed in the course of raging protests across a number of countries.

"The president was referring to the transformations in the region," Carney said. "There is a certain rather desperate attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to find political advantage and, in this case, that's profoundly offensive."

That wasn't the only line Carney had to carefully explain Monday.

Romney's campaign had also criticized the president for his comments on Israel.

Via: Fox News

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Blamer-In-Chief: I Bear “Full Responsibility For Everything”…

(CNN) – President Barack Obama discussed his frustration with gridlock in Washington, saying his "biggest disappointment" in his nearly four years in office has been the failure to oversee change in the nation's political climate.

"My biggest disappointment is that we haven't changed the tone in Washington as much as I would have liked," Obama said in a CBS News interview that aired Sunday.

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Asked if he bears any blame for the stalemate, Obama said the buck stops at his desk.

"I think that, you know, as president I bear responsibility for everything, to some degree," he said on CBS' "60 Minutes."

Throughout the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney's campaign and Obama’s critics have dogged the president for failing to get certain legislation passed in recent years, while Team Obama responds by faulting congressional Republicans for not compromising.

The tension has especially heightened as Congress faces a looming, end-of-the-year deadline to avoid the "fiscal cliff," a massive amount of tax hikes and spending cuts set to take place at the beginning of 2013 if Congress fails to act. Lawmakers on both sides have already showed signs of firm partisan division on the issue.

Obama's comments aired days after the president drew criticism from Romney over separate remarks about change in Washington, comments that suggested a slight tweak in Obama's 2008 ideals of "hope" and "change."

Via: CNN

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