Following up on Jed Babbin’s excellent article today on Benghazigate, Fox News is reporting new and very interesting information this morning:

According to Fox, the FBI and National Counter-Terrorism Center briefed members of Congress within 48 hours after the Benghazi attack that it was likely the work “al Qaeda or al Qaeda-affiliated” terrorists.

Interestingly, and perhaps to eventually be seen as an unfortunate black mark on an otherwise remarkable legacy, Fox also reports that CIA Director David Petraeus had offered briefings suggesting that the attack “was more consistent with a flash mob” and that “Petraeus seemed wedded to the narrative that the attack was linked to a demonstration.”

Democrats may lean on that part of the story, saying they were told by the CIA that the version of the story blaming a video was credible. However, given that the FBI and NCTC told a very different story (probably the day before the CIA briefings), it was beyond unacceptable and irresponsible for the administration to run with just the version of events which they hoped was true. In effect, as former UN Ambassador John Bolton has said, the administration’s ideological blinders kept them from admitting the truth to themselves, and caused them to lie to us.