Congressman Frank Wolf: I Hear That Benghazi Survivors Aren't Testifying Because They Were All Asked to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements Promising to Keep Quiet

This is what goon lawyers do after a disaster -- they seek out the victims and try to pressure them into agreements that limit the liability of their employer.

Wolf doesn't have proof of this. But he says "trusted sources" tell him this. Let's find out the truth of it.

"According to trusted sources that have contacted my office, many if not all of the survivors of the Benghazi attacks along with others at the Department of Defense, the CIA have been asked or directed to sign additional non-disclosure agreements about their involvement in the Benghazi attacks. Some of these new NDAs, as they call them, I have been told were signed as recently as this summer."

Wolf continued: "It is worth nothing that the Marine Corps Times yesterday reported that the Marine colonel whose task force was responsible for special operations in northern and western Africa at the time of the attack is still on active duty despite claims that he retired. And therefore could not be forced to testify before Congress.

"If these reports are accurate, this would be a stunning revelation to any member of Congress, any member of Congress that finds this out and also more importantly to the American people. It also raises serious concerns about the priority of the administration's efforts to silence those with knowledge of the Benghazi attack in response.

Here's that Marine Corps Times article noting that Colonel Bristol is apparently on an Administration-arranged half-retired/half-not plan.

Defense Department officials have told members of Congress that Bristol cannot be forced to testify because he retired after stepping down during a March change of command ceremony, according to several media reports. The Pentagon reinforced that point of view to Marine Corps Times on Tuesday.

...

That isn’t the case, however. While Bristol is preparing for retirement, he is on active duty through the end of July, said Maj. Shawn Haney, a Marine spokeswoman, on Wednesday. He will be placed on the inactive list on Aug. 1, she said. That contradicts statements that Pentagon officials have issued to both Congress and the media.

I cannot say how wrong this is. These people, unlike the average victim of malfeasance, weren't even paid off. If they signed these NDAs, then they did so for the "compensation" of simply not having their refusal held against them; that is to say, their employer would have extracted the NDA based entirely on the implied threat that the employer would punish the employee if he didn't sign.

And this would be, once again, the Obama Administration pretending at "national security" as a pretext for simply hushing up negative information about him and his minions.

posted by Ace at 11:23 AM

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