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Northern Virginia 'Whistleblower' Star Witness at Benghazi Hearing on Capitol Hill

Greg Hicks answers questions from his congressman, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly.

In a highly charged hearing room Wednesday on Capitol Hill, Northern Virginia resident Gregory Hicks gave dramatic testimony as the star witness before House members getting to the bottom of a fatal attack in September on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Hicks identified himself at the hearing as a constituent of Congressman Gerry Connolly’s 11th District in Northern Virginia. Connolly is a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, holding the hearing Wednesday.

Hicks, a Foreign Service officer and former deputy chief of the U.S. consulate, testified about the details of the night of the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, when U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and another man were killed; two other were killed the next morning.

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Hicks, accompanied to the hearing by his wife, who sat behind him, testified for hours Wednesday, answering questions from members of the committee.

Connolly spoke about his own experience traveling to Tripoli, noting, “It’s a volatile, violent, unstable situation. We’re facing instability in Libya still…”

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Hicks agreed with Connolly on the instability of the area, referring to car bombings, car-jackings and “a government struggling to maintain security.”

“If I could just say to my constituent — we’re proud of you,” said Connolly, who is also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “You have my personal pledge if there were ever to be any hint at retaliation or retribution for your willingness to come forward and tell your version of what happened, this member of Congress will intervene on your behalf, forcefully.”

Hicks said later during testimony that since the Benghazi attack, he’s been demoted.

Connolly questions Hicks on controversial video

In later questioning, at the hearing Wednesday, Connolly asked Hicks about a controversial video that some say instigated the attack on the embassy. The video was touted on Sunday morning talk shows as being the reason for the attack.

Hicks dismissed the video Wednesday as having no impact in Libya, saying that the Libyan president and Libyan prime minister did not think the video had anything to do with the attack on the American consulate.

“You said emphatically the video had no material impact in Libya,” Connolly noted. “You talk about phone conversations with the prime minister.”

But Connolly said, “we don’t want to leave a misinterpretation here. On Sept. 12, the New York Times quoted the deputy prime minister, saying that his initial instinct was to avoid people angry about the video…. My only point is, the Libyan government doesn’t speak with just one voice. It’s a little… I don’t want to mislead the public. It’s not entirely false. Would you care to comment?”

“Our assessment in the Embassy was that the video was not an instigator of anything going on in Libya,” Hicks said.

Connolly asked that the New York Times article “Libya attack brings challenges for U.S.” be put in the hearing’s record.

Although there have been earlier hearings about the consulate attack, this was the first for the 113th Congress.

The questions were often pointedly partisan with Republicans and Democrats asking carefully crafted questions.

A C-SPAN caller pointed out that Republicans are trying to make sure that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is tarnished before a potential race for president.

Watch highlights of the hearing on C-SPAN Wednesday at 9 p.m.


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