the former secretary of state will answer questions about the september 11, 2012 attacks on the u.s. consulate that killed four americans, including ambassador chris stevens. a new "full measure" report asked 1000 likely voters, has hillary clinton been honest in her disclosures of testimony related to benghazi? 27% said yes. 52% said no. 22% were not sure. over the past three years, a body of evidence has emerged, showing that eight weeks before president obama's reelection, the administration, including clinton, worked to steer the public narrative away from the terrorist nature of the attacks, security shortfalls, and the lack of a military rescue. it is the night of september 11, 2012 and while the benghazi attacks are under way, top officials at the a aqaeda-linked

-- top officials at clinton's state department t know that an al qaeda-linked islamic extremist group has taken credit. within minutes, that alert goes to the white house, fbi, and pentagon. four hours later, clinton's public statement invokes the idea that the attackers were spontanenes protesters responding to inflflmatory materials posted on the internet, and anti-muslim youtube video. last year, clinton was vague on whether she and president obama discussed blaming the video instead of terrorists that night. >> i don't know that i talked about with him at that conversation. >> it was the very next day. sharyl: republican jim jordada will question clinton thursday in this hearing room as she testified to the house benghazi committee. >> the terrorist group had claimed credit. public statements by the administration did not reflect that fact. sharyl: the benghazi committee

documents and unearthed the ntroversial set up w wre clinton conducted government business on a private e-mail server. the fbi has now taken possession of it. is there anything that you feel the committee has learned or done to expand the knowledge? >> we have a ton of e-mails her that none of the committees have access to. we have talked to seven eyewitnesses that the other committees did not talk to. we intervieweded1 different folks whwhhad information abou that tragic night. sharyl: the committee's chief critic is chief democrat elijah cummings, who is defending the administration's interest. he accused the republican >> this benghazi select commitite has become the committee to investigate hillary clinton -- period. sharyl: witnesses interviewed behind closed doors include sidney blumenthal and former top

clinton aide cheryl mills and jake sullivan, who share the same lawyer and were allegedly present at a benghazi document sorting session. state department official raymond maxwell says he witnessed it in 2012. >> i'm grateful for the chance i had to visit with the committee today. i appreciate all the time that they have spent with me and the respect they showed to me. sharyl: last month, brian pagliano pled the fifth, which allows people to refuse to answer questioio that could expose them to prosecution. he allegedly insnslled clinton's e-mail server. he brought four lawyers. one of the committee's primary questions is why the public wasn't told about the islamic extremist nature of the assault? we now know a clinton official privately told libya the attackers were affiliated with islamic extremists, but the phrase was not used in public. >> hvily a aed man with tents assaulted the compound.

-- militants assaulted the compound. sharyl: instead, the youtube video narrative was extended. >> we reject denigrating the religious beliefs of others. sharyl: clinton ambassador susan rice stayed on message. on the sunday tv shows. >> we do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned. aryl: we learned mucuclater that obama o oicials deleted references to terrorism and al qaeda from rice's talking points. many deletions were dered by cia nuer two mike morrell. at the time, the white house insisted there only edit to her talking points was changing the word "consulate" to "diplomatic post." >> the point being it was a matter of non-substantive factual correction. >> to o very clear, the whihi house did not make any substantive changes to the talking points. sharyl: in mayay last year, we learned the white house did make substaive changes after all. documents showed an obama

away from terrorism. >> the white house had a line about the administration warning of september 10 0 social media repopos calling for demonstrations. true? >> i believe so. sharyl: more documents revealed last year showed a top obama advisor coordinated the incorrect messaging to underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy. the committee is also investigatg why the attacks went on for more than seven hourur but the u.s. militata did not come t tthe rescue. greg hicks, the stately department diplomat in tripoli said he repeatedly asked for military help, but was denied. >> is anything coming? will they be sending us any help? is there something out there? sharyl: the administration said no assets wewe stopped, no military help wawaavailable. the leader of a u.s. quick response anti-terrorism team says his unit was stopped after

they prepared to deploy. a small special forces team in tripoli was stopped from boarding a flight to benghazi to help while the attacks were underway. three u.s. security officers stationed nearby say their cia boss delayed them from responding quickly to hell. -- quily to helel >> i understand you wanted planes to get to benghazi faster. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said they simply could not get there quickly. >> i was speaking from my perspective. >> i understand. >> on the ground in tripoli, based on what the defense at his shea told me. he said two to three hours. sharyl: the closed-door sessions with congress -- t t military officials conc teded that military assets were available, but it was decided they would not be used. the military ruled out a show of force to scatter the terrists. a special foes team with access to a gunship to 18-20 hours to be moved -- far too

late to help. the military says the state department never asked for rescue help. >> why weren't those assets deployed? there may be a reason, a very good reason. t we want to know and it doesn't seem like we are getting all the answers to those fundamental questions. sharyl: the administration insists it did everything possible and that nothing more would have saved t t lives of those murdered that night. during the first democratic presidential debate, candidate clinton was asked about benghazi and using a private e-mail server during her time at the state department, making it inaccessible to normal disclosure. >>nd i have been as transparent as i know to be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mail, asking that they may be made public. but let's take a m mute and point out that this committee is basically an arm of the republican national commite.

[applause] sharyl: hillary clclinton decled our interview request. i sat down with her longtime associate and supporter former white house counsel lanny davis. davis made it clear he is not an official clinton representative. democrats are fond of saying this is a republican witchhunt. however, that would have to include "the new york times," the fbi, obama appointed inspectors general. doesn't that poke holes in the idea that this is just a republican controversy? >> i would make it distinct and between the investigation about all these congressional committees and the accountability review board that the ambassador and admiral mullen undertook and hillary clinton said she accepted their finding of systemic failure in the state department. that is pretty harsh. she would agree that this was very serious and there are very serious systemic failures. the distinction between that

all yoyocan call it, and we can get into that is a big distinction we should be making. that committee versus everything else.. sharyl: the goudi committee has turned up 50,000 pages of documents and turned up new witnesses. they have brought to light the existence of hillary clinton's ivate server and a l l of infofoation and they have e t even r reased a report yet. how is that just a republican farce? >> the committee is supposed to be about investigatinghe tragic death of four americans involved id the benghazi episode and horrible tragedy. so, yes, what you said about congressman goudi is what they claim. you notice, benghazi, after 10 hours of questioning sidney blumenthal, was mentioned twice. sharyl: doesn't it make sesee that the c cmittee's focus would at least in part be on hillary clinton if she had e-mails they never saw, especially since she was secretary of state?

epicenter? >> no, she should be, on the issue of benghazi. if they think that they can do a better job than the house intelligence committee, the house armed servicic committee, controlled by republicans, then we have got to see what they are going to do differently. sharyl: hillary clinton is appearing before the committee. should president obama answer questions about benghazi? >> i think he has answered questions within the white house. but as the head of the executive branch, i don'think you should go before congress. thereris something called the separation of powers. sharyl: administsttion officials acknowledged thahamistakes were made, but they said there was no malice behind it. and yet, nobody high up as part of making the decisions have been held accountable. in fact, if anything, a lot of them have been promoted. why is that? >> i think that is a fair i point. don't know why. there should have been

at mid-level management, a lot of good rerting has identified failures of communication, but we know fromhe house armed services and intligence ommittee, despite all of the accusations by the republicans, there was no standdown order, there was no immediate ability to rescue those individuals, given the distance and the logistics. sharyl: you were close to hillary clinton, although you are not speaking officially for her. do you see a place for bernie sanders inin hillary clinton administrationon [laughter] >> i love bernie sanders. thought his performance at the debate and his graciousness about not engaging in the personal attacks would qualify him to serve in a hillary clinton administration. whether he would want to leave the senate or not, i don't know. ititould be up to the future president to decide. but the answer personally is i really like bernie sanders and i think he is a great leader. sharyl: by the way, the postdebate bump seemed to goo

her performance picked up with democrats and sanders seem to do better in focus groups and cial media. ahead, former congngssman ekstra on america's failed licy in libya and a startling change in ousted dictator

sharyl: during the so-called arab spring, newewovernments rose to power in libya and egypt th support from the u.s. instead of a new era of democracy, the result has been a disastrous expansion of islamic extremist terrorism. former head of the in -- house intelligence committee pete hoekstra writes about it in his new book "arch "itects of disaster." he reveals a surprising story. libyan dictator gaddafafhad become an unlikely u.s. ally before he was ousted from power. >> in 2003, he actually changed his behavior. he became an ally in the war on terror. he paid reparations to the victims of libyan terrorist attacks. he turned over his nuclear weapons program. in 2011-2012, america turned his back on gaddafi. we overthrew him with no plan as to what we were going to do afafrward and, today, libya is basically characterized by just about everybody as being a failed state. it is an exporter of terrorism

and the middle east. sharyl: it is your view that part of the reason he was giving cooperation to the united states was because he was afraid of extremist islamic terrorists? >> i havavthe opportunity to meet with him on three occasions and taking a look at t history of libya under his rule, he was always worried about the threat from islamic extremists to his own regime. sharyl: your book says that one of the big reasons the obama administration was trying to cover up the islamic terrorist ties in benghazi was become some of the people that the united states worked with and helped arm and trtrn turned around and attacked the compound d d attacked ambassador stevens and the three other americans who died. >> we have done a deep dive into a number of these individuals. a lot had ties to radical jihadists and into the muslim brotherhood. for a period of time, they would

ally and overthrow gadhafi, but when gadhafi was o orthrown, ey wanted to take ovov the government, they w wted the united states out of the. i think it is highly likely that some of the groups and individuals that we trained, we equipped, ended up being the ones on september 11, 2012, who attacked our compound in benghazi and killed for -- four americans. sharyl: is that t failure on the part of the executives in the white house, president obama, or the secretary of state hillary clinton or combined? >> both hillary clinton and president obama bought into this strategy. the quote from hillary clinton is "we came, we saw, he died." she owns this strategy. sharyl: surely they did not intend for terrorism to be exported from libya and for the united states facilitate it? how could they have missed these things that are so obvious to you in retrospect?

>> you need to go back to one of the quotes from then candidate obama in 2007. he is saying that once i'm elected president, the muslim world will see america differently because i understand the muslim c cmunity and their ideology. sically saying, whatever policies we had under president bush, president clinton, president bush before that -- these guys could just not interact and relate to the muslim world. because of my background, these groups will see america differently and they will be able to work with me and what we found out is, no, these groups ultimately saw an n portunity. sharyl: they do see america differently, perhaps. >> they do see america differently, but they saw it as an opportunity and they saw it as weakness. you have to remember, these groups have their own agendas in mind.

just because there is someone else in charge in washington does not mean they are going too change their ideologog they hate e west, they hate america, they hate western society, they want to attack it and destroy it. that did not change when we got a new president. sharyl: hoekstra says libya is indicative of a larger strategic failure in the middle east. on thursday, president obama halted his planned troop withdrawal from afghanistatadue due to the increasing headway islamic extremist terrorists are making. ahead, we follow the money.

sharyl: this week, we follow the money and the trail of wasteful spending leads straight to the department of veterans affairs. lawmakers are criticizing the agency, saying it took artistic

liberty on very pricey purchases. >> the committee recently found that the palo alto v.a. health care system has spent at least $6.3 million on art -- on art and consulting services. sharyl: the republican chair on the house c cmittee of veterans affairs fired up about the v.a.'s expensive taste at the palo alto facility using your tax dollars. >> these projects include an art installation on the side of a parking garage that displays quotes by abraham lincoln and eleanor roosevelt in -- wait for it -- morse code that cost $285,000. it actually lights up. sharyl: also on the list, this stainless steel sculpture that cost taxpayers $365,000.

the v.a. committee room is art on loan from the department of defense. i don't have a problem with the art. sharyl: but he doesesave a prprlem with the $1.3 mimiion rock sculpture and art project that he says comes at the expense of wounded vets. >> the a's keeps saying they need more and more money, yet they are not willing to prioritize and use the money they have for the appropriate thing, i.e. health care for the veterans. sharyl: as the v.a. recovers from the scandal involving dozens of veterans who died waiting for carereit ispending $330,000 on this art. >> still, the a is able to regain -- until the v.a. is able to regain the trust of the american people, flexibility is the last ring we need to be giving to the v.a. looking into the spending concerns and working to create a commissionon art.

insurance co-ops in kentucky and tennessee are going belly up. now only 17 /f the 23 co-ops created under the health care law remain and nearly all are losing money. separately, the administration predicts obamacare and roman will be flat next year -- will be flat next year. surance analyst robert licheskiki says that is no more than 40% of 28 million elible americans. 75% enrollment is needed to be financially viable. the result, higher premiums. he told me we have a complete

sharyl: a full measure thumbs down goes to the former of chicago schools. she fled guilty this week to steering $23 million in contracts to former employers for bribes and kickbacks worth up to $2 million. prosecutors dropped all but one fraud charge in exchange for her cooperation.io while she got rich on the back of students, 50 chicago schools were shut down. the school district's $500 million in the red. -- the school system is $500 million in the red. one final measure this sunday. "full measure" is more than just the name of the broadcast. it is a commitment to asking the tough questions d holding those in power accountable. our inboxes already overflowing

issues you want to see us cover. e-mails like this one from jim asking us to investigate the relationship between medical personnel and the pharmaceutical industry. ototrs like paula in texas suggested we dig into the credentials and coffers of some online education programs. thank you for those suggestions. stay tuned. we want to hear more. send in your ideas on taxpayer waste or government overreach. just head to our website, fullmeasure.news to connect with us via e-mail. you cacaalso connect with us on twitter @fullmeasurenews. to submit more commes, questions, and notes make sure , to like our facebook page. thanks for watching. i'm sharyl attkisson. until next time, we will be searching for more stories to powers accountable -- that hold