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Fox Host Compares NFL Domestic Abuse Scandals To Benghazi

Elisabeth Hasselbeck CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
Elisabeth Hasselbeck CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW

A Tweet by Fox & Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Tuesday attempted to tie the ongoing investigations into domestic abuse by a growing number of National Football League players to the 2012 attacks on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The move came a day before House Republicans begin their eighth investigation into the two-year-old tragedy.

Hasselbeck, whose husband Tim played 12 games in the NFL, tweeted:

After criticism for her initial tweet, Hasselbeck explained that since she had spoken with the mother of one of the people killed in the Benghazi attacks, she believed that “Inserting #Benghazi” into the NFL discussions “is NOT ridiculous-IT IS AN #HONOR.”

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On Wednesday, a House Select Committee will hold its first hearing on the Benghazi attacks, attempting to find evidence about the 2012 attacks not discovered by any of the seven previous investigations. Indeed, a declassified version of the House Intelligence Committee’s analysis in July said that panel found “no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration.”

A spokesman for the Benghazi committee said Tuesday that it “will consider all evidence, across all jurisdictions, and produce the final, definitive accounting on behalf of Congress of what happened before, during and after the terrorist attacks on our facilities in Benghazi.” The committee was created by the House Republican majority in May, almost entirely along party lines, despite Democratic objections that it was a waste of money and that that time could better be spent focusing on matters like income inequality. Despite vows not to fundraise off of the tragedy, it has become a popular fundraising tool for conservatives.

Republicans and Fox News over the past two years have often attempted to link the Benghazi attacks to an array of seemingly unconnected issues, including the crisis in Ukraine, Gov. Chris Christie’s bridge scandal, the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, immigration reform, deaths in Syria, and the resignation of former CIA Director David Petraeus. But Hasselbeck appears to be the first to connect the deaths in Libya to football.