Republican senator and liberal columnist hint at impeachment for Obama over Benghazi 'cover-up'
- Sen. Jim Inhofe: 'People may be starting to use the "I"-word before too long'
- Daily Beast columnist Michael Tomasky: Benghazi 'a potential impeachment issue as long as the Republicans are in control of the House'
- Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: Obama 'will not serve out his full term'
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The specter of impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama over an alleged Benghazi cover-up has been raised for the first time, with a conservative senator and a liberal political columnist both hinting that 'the "I" word' could be in play.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe said Thursday on the Rusty Humphries radio show that what he called the 'greatest cover-up in American history' could soon enter impeachment territory.
'People may be starting to use the "I"-word before too long,” Inhofe said.
'Yeah,' Inhofe replied.
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The Hill first reported on Inhofe's comments, which came less than a day before Newsweek columnist Michael Tomasky followed suit.
During Friday's airing of the MSNBC program Now, Tomasky responded to the suggestion that Republicans' political knives are out for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in advance of the 2016 presidential election - by saying that the episode could reach into the Oval Office and snare its current occupant.
Benghazi hearings, he said, could point to 'that word that starts with "I."'
'It becomes a potential impeachment issue,' Tomasky said, 'as long as the Republicans are in control of the House.'
An Obama impeachment? Inhofe (L) and Tomasky (R) are suggesting that it could come over the fast-growing Benghazi scandal
The impeachment of a sitting president is rare, and would originate with charges brought in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. The Senate, however, votes on whether to convict an impeached president.
That body is currently controlled by Democrats, and the status of its majority is likely to be a hotly contested issue in the 2014 mid-term election.
President Bill Clinton's impeachment was stopped in a Democratic-controlled senate, which refused to convict him on charges that he lied, while under oath, about his affair with a White House intern.
The Hill noted that Fox News Channel host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has predicted that Obama 'will not serve out his full term' because of Benghazi-related accusations.
ABC News uncovered 12 versions of the infamous Benghazi talking points, suggesting that the Obama administration was more involved with editing them than it has admitted
'This is not good for the White House right now,' said MSNBC host Luke Russert (C). Buzzfeed's Ben Smith (R) agreed that it doesn't look good, and Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast (second from R) raised 'the "I" word'
ABC News revealed Friday that a set of public talking points on the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya was edited 12 times, and ultimately presented a false reading of the terror attack.
State Department personnel had a hand in proposing those revisions, emails leaked to ABC show, despite the White House's insistence that its political appointees had no 'substantive' role in changing the official Benghazi story.
Ultimately UN Ambassador Susan Rice, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Obama all referred publicly to the terror attack as the result of a spontaneous protest sparked by an anti-Islam YouTube video.
'Here's what happened,' Obama told David Letterman on his CBS nighttime talk show on Sept. 18.
'You had a video that was released by somebody who lives here, sort of a shadowy character who made an extremely offensive video directed at Mohammed and Islam, making fun of the Prophet Mohammed,' the president said.
'And so this caused great offense in much of the Muslim world. But what also happened, extremists and terrorists used this as an excuse to attack a variety of our embassies, including the one - the consulate in Libya.'
That story turned out to be false.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland's emails show that the agency, then headed by Hillary Clinton, had a direct hand in altering the official story on the Benghazi terror attack
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before Congress that it didn't matter whether the Benghazi assault was a terrorist attack or the result of a protest. 'What difference, at this point, does it make?' she asked
A White House press briefing scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Friday was rescheduled for 1:45 after Press Secretary Jay Carney opted instead to hold a private, off-the-record briefing with 14 journalists.
The briefing was later rescheduled again, for 3:15 p.m. President Obama was scheduled to deliver remarks about the Affordable Health Care Act in the East Room of the White House at 2:40 p.m.
The briefing, when it occurs, is likely to see an explosion of new questions about Benghazi, but it will be delayed enough to push the resulting news into what journalists call the 'Friday black hole' - the final hours before the weekend when Americans least pay attention to current events.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2322722/Republican-senator-liberal-columnist-hint-impeachment-Obama-Benghazi-terrorism-cover-scandal.html#ixzz2SxScZdJV
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