An attorney for at least one would-be Benghazi whistle-blower told a Beltway radio host this morning that the Obama administration is deliberately obstructing justice to prevent her client from taking the requisite legal steps to reveal classified information in Congressional testimony. In an interview with WMAL's Chris Plante, Victoria Toensing contended that the Obama State Department's actions violate both civil and criminal law. At issue is her client's current inability to freely discuss his or her knowledge of the case with Toensing, which she called an imperative step in the process. Some of the pertinent information this individual wishes to divulge was gleaned during classified briefings, and therefore cannot legally be imparted to anyone below a certain security clearance level. Toensing, who served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Reagan administration, has held numerous high-level clearances throughout her career, but isn't being "given the time of day" now that she's requesting one on this matter. Receiving such a clearance is central to her ability to zealously represent her client, she said; the venerable Washington attorney is seeking to shield her client against any legal ramifications that may arise from "going public." Toensing wouldn't comment on the identity of the person she's representing, beyond the fact that he or she is a career State Department employee based on the East Coast. The key is what her client knows:
Toensing disclosed that her client has pertinent information on all three time periods investigators consider relevant to the attacks: the months that led up to September 11, when pleas by the ambassador and his staff for enhanced security in Benghazi were mostly rejected by senior officers at the State Department; the eight-hour time frame in which the attacks unfolded; and the eight-day period that followed the attacks, when Obama administration officials falsely described them as the result of a spontaneous protest over a video.
She also confirmed that a Special Ops whistle-blower who spoke anonymously to Fox News earlier this week is not her client. That official -- who reportedly lives on the West Coast -- alleges that the US government could have deployed at least two different "asset" groups to intervene in Benghazi prior to the second wave of the attack, during which terrorists claimed two more American lives:
The U.S. government had the ability to “react and respond” to the Benghazi terrorist attack and could have had forces on the ground before the second wave of the assault began, a special operator with knowledge of the response told Fox News in an exclusive interview. Due to the explosive nature of his allegations, the special ops member asked to remain anonymous. “I know for a fact that C 110, the EUCOM CIF, was doing a training exercise, not in the region of northern Africa, but in Europe. And they had the ability to react and respond,” he told Fox News.
Fox News reports that "at least four" State Department and CIA employees have retained legal representation in advance of providing Congress with "sensitive information" about the Benghazi raid. More House hearings are scheduled for next week, and one Republican Congressman describes the impending revelations as "explosive." At a White House press conference yesterday, President Obama said he wasn't aware of these developments. CBS News has more on the story.
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UPDATE - The Left is already moving to discredit Toensing and other lawyers working to expose the Benghazi cover-up. These attorneys have publicly alleged that their clients were bullied and intimidated into silence over the last seven months.
UPDATE II - Wow. White House Spokesman downplayed a Benghazi question today, sniffing that the attack "happened a long time ago:"
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