Ex-National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor is unfazed by Fox News’ outrage over his remarks on talking points about the Benghazi attacks.
Vietor spoke with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Friday night about his remarks on a newly released memo on talking points related to the attacks, which proved to be too informal for some Fox News hosts’ tastes.
“Bret [Baier] was asking me to remember what — if I changed a word on Septermber 14th, 2012, and my frustration came through,” Vietor said on “All In.” “I guess you’re only supposed to speak the Queen’s English on Fox. But obviously what happened that day was an absolute tragedy.”
Baier pushed back against Vietor when the former NSC aide said he couldn’t remember who had edited the talking points because “Dude, [Benghazi] was like two years ago.” Fox’s Stuart Varney later said he thought that language was “inappropriate.”
Hayes attributed the network’s “obsessive coverage” to a desire to hurt former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s chances in a potential 2016 presidential campaign. He then asked Vietor whether there was indeed a “massive cover-up” around the Benghazi attacks, as some conservatives argue.
“No there was not. And yet no one has explained to me what it is that was covered up,” Vietor responded. “What I do know is that Fox News and right-wing radio has constructed this alternate reality where Barack Obama watched video drone footage of the incident as it happened, where the CIA was told to stand down, where the military could have come to their rescue and they didn’t because some choice was made not to.”
“All of those things have been debunked in the real world, but in the Fox News- hashtag-Benghazi world, these are things people still believe,” he added.
Watch below at the 4:30 mark, courtesy of MSNBC:
