Hillary Clinton's admission that she did not directly handle security arrangements in Benghazi is a clear violation of the law, according to Victoria Toensing, former deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department.
"She could not delegate it … A law passed by Congress in 1999 in the aftermath of two African bombings [established that]," Toensing told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
She said the law came after the Accountability Review Board, to avoid finger pointing in future cases, recommended the Secretary of State take an "active" role in the security of U.S. diplomatic staffers.
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In an interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer, Clinton said she gave "very direct instructions" to "people who have the expertise and experience in security." But she added, "I’m not equipped to sit and look at blueprints to determine where the blast walls need to be or where the reinforcements need to be. That’s why we hire people who have that expertise.”
Toensing, a partner at diGenova & Toensing, LLP in Washington, D.C., said Ambassador Christopher Stevens — killed along with three other Americans in the Sept. 11th, 2012 bloodbath — had specifically asked Clinton for additional security.
"And she, through [U.S. Rep.] Patrick Kennedy [of Rhode Island, a member of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations], turned him down, specifically turned him down several times," Toensing said.
"This was purposeful neglect … [Stevens] was there because Hillary Clinton on the day he was sworn in asked him to go to Benghazi and make a report as to whether it could be a permanent post."
Toensing, who watched Clinton's recent interviews on CNN's Town Hall and Fox News, said she was lobbed softball questions time and time again. And she was not pressed about the anti-Islamic video that was first blamed for the attack.
Even when she was "interviewed by Fox, they were being too polite to interrupt her when she said, well, you know we're just following the CIA talking points about the video, the information from the CIA," Toensing said. "Nobody takes her on it."
On the subject of missing emails written by former IRS official Lois Lerner — who allegedly targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status — Toensing said there are other ways to hunt them down.
"Why don't the recipients have [them]? I mean why aren't they going to the White House and at least as many governmental possible recipients to see where they are?" she said.
"Unless we all keep banging and banging and banging that this is outrageous, they're going to get away with it."
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