Sean Hannity blasts Jay Carney's 'bald-faced lie'

How the White House Press Secretary is covering up the Benghazi scandal

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," May 1, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Tonight, the Obama White House has been busted. There is now undeniable evidence that they, from the president on down, lied to you, the American people, about the lethal attacks in Benghazi that killed four innocent Americans and that they engaged in a coverup after that lie.

And that's how we begin this very busy news night, which is why tonight, I'm calling out the man who will do and say absolutely anything all in an effort to advance the political agenda of the 44th president of the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When I go and stand up at the podium in front of the White House press corps, I never lie. I never say something I that know is not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Oh, really? It's him. White House press secretary Jay Carney -- he's now become nothing short of a complete and utter laughingstock, and it continued today when Carney was asked whether or not the administration will admit that this was a premeditated attack in Benghazi. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Some video was a protest...

(CROSSTALK)

CARNEY: You should ask the Intelligence Committee what their current assessment of what happened. What we know is that there was an attack, that there were extremists involved and four Americans were killed. We have been saying that from the beginning. Again, if you look at the language provided at the time by the IC to members of Congress and the White House, that's what Ambassador Rice stuck to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, now, that duck, weave and cover routine was the just beginning because Carney went even further by attempting to accuse Republicans and even the FOX News Channel of unfairly politicizing this horrific tragedy. Now, here's an exchange that he had with our very own Ed Henry today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED HENRY, FOX CORRESPONDENT: You're being cautious. You're saying there's an investigation here. That's 9/12. Why then on 9/14 is Ben Rhodes writing an e-mail that is making judgments that this was inspired by a video? Why is it not...

CARNEY: Ed...

HENRY: ... Hey, we just don't know, we're investigating it?

CARNEY: Do you need a copy of the CIA talking points...

(CROSSTALK)

HENRY: Read them out all you want. Go ahead.

CARNEY: The only thing in that e-mail that refers to Benghazi is a cut and paste from the talking points, which, much to your disappointment and your boss's disappointment, turned out to be produced by the CIA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: All right, let me clear something up for you, Mr. Carney. As the Rhodes e-mail proves, the president and his top aides were the ones that were concerned about the political fallout of this terrorist attack. Now, they didn't want their commander-in-chief's epic foreign policy failures to impact the election just two months later, period!

And when it comes to our coverage, well, I would think that the self- proclaimed most transparent administration in history would agree the American people, and especially the families that lost loved ones, deserve to know the truth.

But today's pathetic display at the daily press briefing -- well, that comes on the heels of yesterday's disgraceful performance, and that's when Jay Carney said with a straight face that Ben Rhodes in his e-mail about Susan Rice's Sunday show appearances was not about Benghazi. Listen to this lie!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: That document that we're talking about today was about the overall environment in the Muslim world. I can say it again and again, and I know you can keep asking again and again, this document was not about Benghazi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: See what I mean? That's called selling your soul for political purposes! Now, this is beyond ridiculous. The whole nation was focused on the attacks on the Benghazi consulate three days earlier before that memo. They knew this would be the focus of the interviews with Susan Rice on the five Sunday shows. And yet Carney -- he goes before the nation with a straight face and his little petulant, condescending manner to tell a bald- faced lie! And this merely continues a pattern of lies for this administration, especially when it comes to Benghazi.

Now, let's go back a few months. Do you remember when Carney told us again and again and again that the White House had nothing to do with altering the talking points on this deadly terror attack? Remember this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: The CIA drafted these talking points and redrafted these talking points. The fact that there are inputs is always the case in a process like this. But the only edits made by anyone here at the White House were stylistic and non-substantive.

First of all, the CIA was the agency that made changes to the edits and -- I mean, to the talking points and then produced the talking points.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Just a lie, a provable lie, 100 percent not true! And there's now an arsenal of smoking guns to prove it. Oh, but there's more. Carney also perpetuated the lie that a YouTube video -- that was to blame for the death of four Americans. They knew this wasn't true, also.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: This is a fairly volatile situation, and it is in response not to United States policy, not to, obviously, the administration, not to the American people. It is in response to a video. We find the video that has been so offensive to Muslims to be disgusting and reprehensible. Reaction to the video was the precipitating factor in protests and violence across the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Hey, remember Baghdad Bob? He'd be proud! Now, sadly, Time magazine's former star reporter also tried to rewrite history when he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: Were we trying to play down the fact that it was an act of terror? Again, a hollow claim when the president himself called it an act of terror, when the talking points referred to the participation of extremists. And I think everybody understands what extremists means.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: No, he did not! Now, this presidential mouthpiece -- he's either delusional or a really well-trained pathological liar, you know, someone who gets caught in a lie, but instead of telling the truth, admitting it, he simply decides to enter this "Alice in Wonderland" world in which, let's see, up is down, north is south, white is black, black is white, lies are truth and truth are lies.

But keep in mind this is just the latest Obama administration scandal that Carney has tried to cover up. Now, we just laid out all his Benghazi lies. Now, let's look at what he told the American people -- remember the IRS enemies list, where they tried to harass, intimidate and silence conservatives? This is what he told you then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: I'm making clear now than when I -- activity in Cincinnati, because it had been reported already when I answered that question, was very specifically about, as I just said, line IRS employees in Cincinnati improperly scrutinizing 501(c)(4) organizations by using words like "Tea Party," in quotes, and "patriot."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And then when it came selling "Obama care," well, Mr. Propaganda -- well, he promised this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: If you have insurance provided by your employer that you like, nothing changes for you.

The president was clear about a basic fact. If you had insurance that you liked on the individual market and you wanted to keep that insurance through 2010, '11, '12, '13 and in perpetuity if you wanted it and it was available, you could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, it's worth recalling that our founders and framers -- they believed that the standard in the executive branch -- that that was supposed to be different, higher than the legislative and judicial branches, that the integrity of the president mattered almost as much as anything, and that misleading the citizenry -- well, that was an act of betrayal. And you know what? They were right. They were right about that and much, much more, about so much more. Now, it matters in America when a president and members of his administration lie and lie and lie and lie repeatedly.

You know, in the final year of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt - - he ordered a blessing by John Adams carved on the stone fireplace of the State Dining Room, where it can now be seen today. Now, this blessing comes from something that Adams wrote to his wife on November the 2nd, 1800. It says this. It says,"I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."

Well, today in America, a dishonest, unwise man rules under the roof of the White House, and John Adams -- he's got to be spinning in his grave.

Here with reaction tonight, from the American Center for Law and Justice Jay Sekulow, and former Clinton special counsel Lanny Davis. Guys, good to see you.

LANNY DAVIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Hi, Sean.

JAY SEKULOW, AMERICAN CENTER FOR LAW AND JUSTICE: Hi, Sean.

HANNITY: You know, Lanny, you and I -- we went round and round about whether or not they were alone, it all depends what "is" is. We have been told a series of lies here, and we can now prove them. I'm asking you as a Democrat, in light of what John Adams wrote his wife that day in 1800, does any of this bother you? Any of this you find difficult to swallow Jay Carney's propaganda?

DAVIS: I don't share your belief. You're entitled to your belief that Jay Carney lied...

HANNITY: They're called facts.

DAVIS: You've got to let me finish...

HANNITY: The Ben Rhodes e-mail is a fact!

DAVIS: Are you going to let me finish tonight, Sean...

HANNITY: Yes, I'll let you. Go ahead.

DAVIS: ... because you had plenty of time in your opening.

HANNITY: All right.

DAVIS: I don't believe Jay Carney lied at all. I know one fact that you did not address and I would invite you to address. I have read the 13 versions of the talking points, beginning with version one that the CIA said it drafted, that was circulated and went back and forth over 13 different versions...

HANNITY: I've read them, too.

DAVIS: ... where changes were made. One sentence never changed in all 13 versions -- fact. The CIA wrote the words "This was a spontaneous demonstration" -- that's their phrase. And then it ended with "triggered by Cairo protests." Fact, that was written by the CIA, was not invented by the Obama White House or the State Department or Ambassador Rice. And if there was a mistake, and there was a mistake made in the intelligence assessment about this being a spontaneous demonstration -- we now know that was wrong, that this was...

HANNITY: Lanny, here's the problem.

DAVIS: ... extremists in...

HANNITY: Here's the problem with your spin!

DAVIS: ... and it's a mistake. It is not a lie. And there's a difference...

HANNITY: Here's the problem with your spin...

DAVIS: ... between mistake and lie.

HANNITY: The station -- they -- to get to that point that you're talking about, they ignored the station chief, the people on the ground in Libya, and they decided to write it out of Langley, Virginia. And on top of that, we have the November 28th -- November 28th, I have tape of Jay Carney saying, No, no, the only change we made was from consulate to diplomatic facility because that was the only thing we had to do. Now we know with the smoking gun e-mail...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Hang on...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: ... the White House was actively involved in the talking points!

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: Well, and let me say something else here. And Lanny, there is no explanation that's legitimate for this. Jay Carney is lying, not telling the truth, when he says that this e-mail was not about Benghazi because this e-mail became public only because our friends at Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit asking for documents related to Benghazi. A court ordered those to be released, and the Department of State, State Department, produces this e-mail, which is response to the Benghazi attack. So the administration can try to change what it means, but the fact is, the words speak for themself.

HANNITY: All right...

SEKULOW: That's number one. Number two, Lanny, they handled this wrong from the beginning. We know -- certainly, we knew three days later, I think obviously, we knew immediately that this had nothing to do with the video. They kept that narrative going. Some are continuing to keep that narrative going, and they do not take your advice, Lanny, which is come out, tell the truth, tell it often and tell it directly. They still haven't done this! It is spin control, and they're institutionally incapable right now of self-correcting. That's the reality!

DAVIS: All right, guys, I'm not asking for equal time, but I would like to at least respond to the two points that were made, and the last one that you just made, Jay. Number one, the fact is unrefuted by either one of you that the CIA wrote the words "spontaneous demonstration triggered by Cairo protests," and that is what has been...

SEKULOW: But not a video!

HANNITY: ... attributed to the Obama -- excuse me -- but that -- the Cairo protests were, in fact, a response to -- the words "video" wasn't used, but you don't deny that the Cairo protests...

HANNITY: All right, here's...

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIS: ... in response to the video. Secondly, on the point you just made...

HANNITY: Lanny!

DAVIS: ... about Ben Rhodes -- give me a chance to respond, guys. Ben Rhodes was doing what I've been involved in, prepping people for Sunday shows. The largest question -- and it was in the middle of a presidential campaign -- is whether the Benghazi tragedy should be attributed to something lacking in the White House policy. And his point in prepping someone for a Sunday show is, No, this tragedy was not about a failure of our policy. It was a tragedy...

(CROSSTALK)

SEKULOW: ... which has been an utter failure!

HANNITY: All right...

SEKULOW: That's what they were trying to do (INAUDIBLE) a narrative that's been a failure.

HANNITY: All right, but we have more on this coming up next -- thank you, guys.

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