Eradicating the Virus of Deception

It is unfortunate, confounding, and outrageous. Once again the American people have been treated to the spectacle of willful deception by an Administration that has promised citizens transparency. The ACLJ is fighting back in order to halt the unprecedented and unconscionable behavior by government officials in the State Department and in the Justice Department.

Just as the Obama Administration has engaged in an intentional and coordinated campaign to stonewall Congress’s Benghazi investigation, just as the government has been occupied by an attempt to mislead citizens by blaming the attack on the Benghazi compound on an obscure internet video, and just as the Administration has decided to deflect attention from its failure to send troops to save the lives of Americans in Libya when it had the chance to do so, it is now clear that the virus of deception has invaded the State Department in their attempt to hide secret bilateral negotiations between Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, and the U.S. government. Equally clear, this virus has invaded the Department of Justice in their willingness to redact the phone calls of jihadists.

In an effort to halt this pattern of deception, this week, the ACLJ filed an important freedom of information lawsuit against the State Department. Simultaneously the ACLJ has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Justice and the FBI regarding the 911 transcript of the phone call made by Omar Mateen during his attack in Orlando, in which the Administration redacted the jihadist’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS – his motive.

The essential objective of the ACLJ’s complaint against the State Department is to hold the government accountable for its misstatements, manipulation, and editing, which culminated in the deletion of eight minutes of a video that exposed a cover-up of State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland’s denial that secret talks between the United States and Iran were indeed occurring as early as 2011. The Obama Administration had in fact begun negotiating with Iran’s former president, Ahmadinejad, even though it assured the American people that negotiations only began after a more moderate regime was elected.

Similarly, the ACLJ has filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department in order to get the complete, unaltered, untranslated 911 phone call that Omar Mateen made during his jihadist rampage that killed 49 people and injured countless others.

These two filings are part of the ACLJ’s sustained effort to unmask the Administration’s stubborn devotion to false narratives, a pattern that also includes the denial by Treasury officials that the IRS has targeted various grassroots organizations including state Tea Party groups and pro-life organizations.

Responding to the Obama Administration’s decision to engage in a pattern of deception in Benghazi, at the State Department, and at the Justice Department, the ACLJ will continue to engage this Administration. Rather than informing the American people of Omar Mateen’s true motivation for his act of terror, and rather than telling the American people the truth about Benghazi or our negotiation with Iran, the Administration seems prepared to surrender to the siren song of deception.

This failure to respect the American people has to stop. The ACLJ will continue to take action opposing the Administration’s capitulation to deception on behalf of the American people.