Intelligence officials say they knew it was a terrorist attack from the beginning, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was given unclassified talking points that were deliberately vague. But Republican critics say that helped mislead the public. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. By Andrea Mitchell, NBC NewsTop intelligence officials told NBC News Monday night that they have known the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi consulate was a terrorist act from the beginning.
White House and intelligence officials meanwhile are denying charges by Republicans that there was an attempt to whitewash the origins of the Benghazi attack to protect the president politically. In the months since the attack, Republican lawmakers have focused on comments by Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who said what transpired was a “spontaneous reaction to a hateful and offensive video.”
The attack in the Libyan city resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
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