On The Ropes

Diane Sawyer Skewers Clinton on Benghazi

Clinton hedges mea culpa.

After relentless questioning from ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer in an interview that aired Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton responded to the Benghazi issue—and tried to have it both ways. “I take responsibility, but I was not making security decisions,” she told Sawyer after a long back-and-forth. Clinton said in the interview, “I’m not equipped to sit and look at blueprints to determine where the blast walls need to be, where the reinforcements need to be. That’s why we hire people who have that expertise,” when asked about security at diplomatic outposts. Sawyer then pointed to the report from the State Department’s Accountability Review Board, which Clinton has touted as an example of her action in response to the September 2012 attack. “The mission was far short of standards; weak perimeter; incomplete fence; video surveillance needed repair. They said it’s a systemic failure,” retorted Sawyer. To which Clinton responded, “Well, it was with respect to that compound.”