Fox News political analyst Juan Williams on Sunday told conservative colleagues Karl Rove and Brit Hume that their obsession about a so-called scandal over last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi was "all in your head, baby."
September 8, 2013

Fox News political analyst Juan Williams on Sunday told conservative colleagues Karl Rove and Brit Hume that their obsession about a so-called scandal over last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi was "all in your head, baby."

During a Fox News Sunday panel segment devoted to the one year anniversary of the Benghazi attack, Fox News media critic Howard Kurtz agreed that there were unanswered questions, but that "there is a drumbeat among conservatives -- including some at Fox News -- to turn this into a full-fledged scandal as opposed to a horribly tragic episode that killed four Americans."

"And I do think that some Republicans -- I'm not saying all -- are trying to use this as a weapon against Hillary Clinton," he added.

Hume, however, insisted that there were "elements of mendacity in what the administration said and did after this attack."

Williams pointed out that there was "not one shred of evidence that the White House knew about this beforehand, they covered up anything."

"To make a scandal out of this, really -- you say this is not going away, let me tell you, this is gone away," William said, turning to Rove.

"No, no. No, it hasn't," Rove replied. "The American people were lied to. Somebody concocted a deliberate lie that this was not a terrorist attack, that this was a spontaneous response to video that no one saw. The American people were having [the] legitimate question, why were efforts not undertaken to save our people."

"Efforts were made," Williams pointed out.

At that point, Rove lost his cool.

"No, they weren't!" for former Bush senior adviser shouted. "The death of four Americans and why they were allowed to die and no one went to their aid is not in the weeds, with all due respect, Juan! It's not in the weeds!"

"What's in the weeds is that you continue to prosecute this like there's some huge crime," Williams remarked. "Karl, stop living in the past and trying to get after Susan Rice and whoever. This has nothing to do with Ambassador Stevens [Christopher] Stevens."

"We don't who is responsible for lying to the American people!" Rove yelled. "You may be comfortable with the American people being told a deliberate lie by the administration, but I'm not. And I think we need to get to the bottom of it."

"Karl, you can continue to raise your voice, but it does not speak to the heart of the issue," Williams said, rolling his eyes.

"One more thing, think of the list of -- going around this table here -- the list of questions that remain unanswered to this day are what make this still a legitimate topic," Hume opined. "And, Juan, I'm sorry to say that this is simply not over."

"It's gone, baby," Williams quipped. "It's in your head. That's about the only place."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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