#DishonestDems Invent Clinton Hashtag Conspiracy

June 29, 2016
Press Release

By Majority Staff

Because the Select Committee’s proposed report can be updated to reflect new testimony when it is marked up and voted on next week, the committee will not allow the Defense Department’s needless delays to stop it from interviewing anyone it previously requested.

Today the committee interviewed a witness it asked the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide several months ago, after the administration refused in February to answer a simple question that would either confirm or deny the allegations the witness posted on Facebook.

In an April 28 letter to the Select Committee riddled with factual inaccuracies, a DOD official described this crew chief as "an individual who claimed on his Facebook page that he had been a mechanic at an air base in Europe the night of the attack and alleged that planes at his base could have been deployed to Benghazi in time to make a difference."

We now know this person was exactly who he had claimed to be, and still on active duty with the Air Force.

But in an effort to paint Committee Republicans' request as politically-motivated, the dishonest Democrats leaked the letter and claimed the witness "posted this with the hashtag #ifyouvoteforhillaryyouarebeyondstupid.”

In a May 15 letter that again cited the Defense Department's letter and description of the Facebook post, the dishonest Democrats repeated this lie, writing, "This individual’s Facebook posting included the political hashtag #ifyouvoteforhillaryyouarebeyondstupid":



Like many things the dishonest Democrats have claimed, this is a total lie. The proof is below. There is no hashtag in the only relevant Facebook post, which was clearly described in the DOD official's letter.

The individual's post does claim he was a crew chief, does claim he was stationed at an air base in Europe on the night of the attack, and does claim planes at his base could have been deployed to Benghazi in time to make a difference. It is the only post that matches the description released by DOD and the Democrats.

But it does not include a single hashtag:

As Chairman Gowdy said long ago, “The committee has an obligation to determine what can and cannot be substantiated."

A video released by the Select Committee yesterday with its proposed report states: "F-16s in Aviano, Italy, were not deployed for multiple reasons, including a belief by military leaders that they would not be effective."