CBS Apologizes For False Benghazi Report

The word "Benghazi" evokes many things: an embassy attack in the city that took place on September 11 of last year, the partisan political firestorm it inspired during various confirmation hearings shortly thereafter, and now a web of lies and self-glorification spun by a "witness" who wasn't actually there. The television news show 60 Minutes issued an apology Friday after airing an interview last week with Dylan Davies, a defense contractor who claimed to have been present at the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack. The apology comes after several other news outlets began reporting that his story on the show actually differed from what he'd told his employer immediately after the incident — mainly, that he'd never left his room.

Davies told Lara Logan, the CBS correspondent responsible for the segment, that he had scaled a 12-foot wall and fought off a militant with the butt of his rifle before escaping. That story is also what appeared in his new book (written under the pseudonym Morgan Jones), in which he also claims that he lied to his employers about his activities that night. But the record stating that he stayed in his villa all night isn't only in his employer's incident report — it's also reflected in the FBI's records. Lara Logan, the CBS correspondent responsible for the explosive interview, apologized this morning:

The most important thing to every person at '60 Minutes' is the truth, and today the truth is we made a mistake. That's very disappointing for any journalist, it's very disappointing for me. Nobody likes to admit they made a mistake, but if you do, you have to stand up and take responsibility and you have to say that you are wrong. And in this case, we were wrong. We made a mistake.

While the apology will certainly not stop Republicans from claiming the initial attack was Obama's fault, it might at least give pause to anyone trying to find information on the attack. Credible sources for controversial topics can be hard to come by, and hopefully this will be a reminder that a story that sounds good may not be what it seems.

Watch the original 60 Minutes segment here: