CNN reported a new bombshell in the ongoing Libya fiasco on Monday
night, while the broadcast networks had already moved on from the story. CNN's
Erin Burnett disclosed that "key intelligence" was left out of the
post-Libya narrative given to the American public. The networks made no
mention of Libya all day Monday and through Tuesday morning after being
late to new developments in the story.
"[T]here were a decision made as to some of these key things that
obviously are now considered to be crucial to this – essential to this
attack were left out of the briefing points given to Congress and given
to the American people," Burnett reported.
Burnett
added that an "intelligence expert" told CNN that "the key information
left out of the talking points can only mean the administration is
covering something up." This story is a new development on the previous
narrative, where the Obama administration's initial explanation for the
attacks did not match up with U.S. intelligence which had , and evolved
since the attacks.
However, CNN reported with certainty that
not only were the attacks planned, but this information was withheld
from the ensuing administration narrative. The networks did not report
this story on Tuesday morning.
The networks were also late to the prior story that U.S. intelligence
had "strong indications" within a day after the embassy attacks that
they were planned and carried out by al Qaeda affiliates. The Daily Beast report [1] on U.S. intelligence aired early Wednesday morning on September 26, yet it took until Thursday night [2] for ABC to report it. As of Friday morning, NBC and CBS had not reported it.
On Friday night, NBC aired two full stories on the matter. Both NBC and
CBS reported on the story on Saturday and all three networks mentioned
Libya on Sunday, with NBC's David Gregory talking about it in detail
with Obama adviser David Plouffe.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center