Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry Unpunishes Four State Employees "Responsible" for Benghazi
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Just read this report in the Daily Beast.
Essentially, the four State staffers that Secretary Clinton put on admin leave with pay (essentially vacation) as punishment for their botching of the Benghazi murders have been requested to come back to work. Also, they were never intereviewed or questioned about their roles in the Benghazi affair and no one from State ever talked to them.
...A senior State Department official confirmed to The Daily Beast on Monday that all four officials placed on administrative leave were now returned to regular duty and would not face any formal disciplinary action. The administrative-leave designation was not a formal punishment, but did prevent the officials from working while the Kerry team, which inherited the Benghazi issue from the Clinton team in February, reviewed their cases...
So, either the four were put on admin leave because they were responsible and then given paid vacations showing us that Secretary Clinton protected them. Or, they were put on admin leave without explanation or cause in order to serve up some good PR for the department during the Benghazi debacle.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R–California) issued the following statement in response to The Daily Beast’s report:
Obama administration officials repeatedly promised the families of victims and the American people that officials responsible for security failures would be held accountable. Instead of accountability, the State Department offered a charade that included false reports of firings and resignations and now ends in a game of musical chairs where no one misses a single day on the State Department payroll. It is now clear that the personnel actions taken by the Department in response to the Benghazi terrorist attacks was more of a public relations strategy than a measured response to a failure in leadership.
In the course of our investigation, the Oversight Committee learned that the State Department’s review of these four individuals did not include interviews with them or their supervisors to either substantiate or challenge allegations. The Oversight Committee will expand its investigation of the Benghazi terrorist attack to include how a supposed ‘Accountability Review Board’ investigation resulted in a decision by Secretary Kerry not to pursue any accountability from anyone.