That Place in Eastern Libya Again

Watching with an interested eye to see what becomes of Lara Logan and her Benghazi story, especially the whereabouts of Dylan Davies. The Daily Beast has more information on the man that anonymous administration sources basically called a liar:

In the message, which was sent on Friday morning to Simon & Schuster vice president Jennifer Robinson, Davies said someone had threatened to harm his family if he continued to defend his account of events in Benghazi to the media. The email was obtained by The Daily Beast.

Now, it wasn't speculated in the article but this "they are threatening my family" story could well be the perfect BS escape narrative for a man who lied to sell a book.  It appears he sent the message shortly before the book was pulled but after CBS did their initial mea culpa on their Morning Show, so that timing is very interesting, especially since he claims the first threat arrived on November 3rd (CBS didn't run their apology until the 8th).

Then again, with this Benghazi story would it really be shocking to find out it's true?  At the same time, if it's true it should be totally shocking.  Think about it.  Perhaps 60 Minutes will investigate.  

And thankfully the Beast finally mentioned the 302 forms.  They are the first prominent outlet to do so, which brings into play the fact that somewhere written evidence likely exists to either prove or disprove Davies story but for some reason they didn't feel compelled to leak it.  Everybody seemed to buy it anyway.

Meanwhile, the State Department has now admitted they actually put the Benghazi suspects on their Rewards for Justice program, offering up to 10 million dollars for info leading to their capture.  Thing is, they do not appear anywhere on the website.  In other words, they are offering an unpublicized reward.  Here's the AP's Matt Lee:

A State Department official familiar with the letter sent to Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, by Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Julia Frifield acknowledged that it's unusual not to publicize offers of rewards, but said investigators have other ways of making sure the information is known "as needed." In the course of the probe, investigators have made it known to individuals that cash is available for those coming forward with actionable information.

Emphasis added to point out what appears to be a double secret RFJ program.  Good grief, they had bin Laden on the site, what could be so sensitive?   It only makes things look worse.

By the way, Matt Lee is the AP's primary State Dept reporter. For several weeks he's been sitting in the State Dept press room while a junior Fox reporter hectors the State spokeswomen about why the Benghazi suspects weren't put on RFJ only to be stonewalled, as Lee mentions in the last paragraph.  He has joined in a time or two to get clarification or chide State for a lack of transparency.  Nobody else in the room will take that ball and run with it except Lee a few times, which the Dept has deftly exploited over the last year to tamp down inquires.

So, going forward it will be interesting to see if 1) Davies ever shows up anywhere, 2) what becomes of the information gathered this week as the House interviewed five CIA officers involved in the firefight, and 3) whether the rest of the media will join in the story again despite the Logan embarrassment and in light of the glow fading from the presidential halo.