Bloodstains at the main gate believed to be from one of the American staff members of the U.S. Consulate, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens on the night of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. (AP)
Fox News on Saturday named three whistleblowers slated to testify during next week's new congressional hearing on Benghazi, Libya.
Reporter Chad Pergram tweeted their names: Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the September assault; Mark Thompson, former Marine and deputy coordinator for operations at the State Department's Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, the former top security officer in Libya.
Nordstrom previously testified before the House Oversight Committee in October, when he said his superiors opposed his efforts to build up security in Benghazi prior to the attack. Hicks and Thompson have not spoken publicly.
“This administration has offered the American people only a carefully selected and sanitized version of events from before, during, and after the Benghazi terrorist attacks” House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said in a statement announcing Wednesday's hearing. “Not surprisingly, this version of events casts senior officials in the most favorable light possible.”
“Last October, the Oversight Committee exposed State Department denials of security requests made by our diplomats in Libya and forced the Obama administration to concede that there never was a protest of a YouTube video," the statement said. "Next week’s hearing will expose new facts and details that the Obama administration has tried to suppress."
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) last week promised "explosive" Benghazi hearings were coming and said, "direct testimony by eyewitnesses is always the most compelling."
U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, State Department information management officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs and security specialists Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were killed in the attack.
