Clinton Campaign Says She ‘Misspoke,’ Did Not Land ‘Under Sniper Fire’
Hillary Clinton’s campaign backed off Monday from a disputed campaign claim, saying Clinton “misspoke” when she said she landed “under sniper fire” during a 1996 trip to war-torn Yugoslavia.
There were reports of snipers in nearby hills, but no known shots were taken at the landing craft or tarmac in Tuzla, Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson told reporters on a conference call.
“The facts are clear from contemporaneous news accounts that she was entering a potentially dangerous situation, and she has written about this before, she has talked about this before and there you have it,” Wolfson said in a conference call.
“Now, it is possible in the most recent instance in which she discussed this that she misspoke with regard to, you know, the exit from the plane,” he continued.
“There were reports of snipers in the hills and they were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac. That is what she wrote in her book, that is what she has said many, many times. And on one occasion she misspoke, but it’s — the record is clear in terms what she has said before on this topic.”
Despite a growing number of disputed accounts, Clinton and her supporters have repeatedly claimed that her 1996 to Yugoslavia was evidence that she was considered a key foreign policy adviser in her husband’s administration, largely due to a high level of danger on the trip.
Clinton has said that the plane landed “corkscrew”-style, similar to the way planes land in Baghdad to avoid surface-to-air threats, and that her arrival was “under sniper fire.”
Last week, during a speech at George Washington University in Washington, she said she remembered “that trip to Bosnia. … There was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the First Lady. That’s where we went.
“I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”
Comedian Sinbad, who accompanied Clinton on the trip, recently said he recalled a much more relaxed trip, and a Washington Post fact-check piece on Saturday lambasted the claims.
And a CBS News report of the trip posted to YouTube shows a smiling Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, shaking troops’ hands and touring encampments in the open.
FOX News Jim Angle contributed to this report.
if hillary can’t or won’t tell the truth about her “experience,” how can we trust or expect her to be honest with the american people if she is president?
Seems strange that when someone LIES blatantly and continously it is called a misstatement. Very, very strange. Either you told the truth or you lied, there is no gray area here. This goes to the core of the “experience” talk. No help in Ireland even though Hillary claimed all kinds of stuff, no sniper fire in Bosnia even though Hillary claimed all kinds of sniper fire and on and on. You are not ready on day one to do anything but LIE.
I was really surprised by this. That’s just not like the Clintons to lie about anything. I still think she would be a great commander in chief! Go Clinton ‘08!
She misspoke? She flat out lied and knew it when she was doing it. Hillary will say and do anything to win. It should be obvious now how fake she is. This is a bigger deal than attending a church with a crazy preacher. Obama went to church. Hillary flat out lied to the American public and got caught. Hillary Flat Out Lied to us! And it is only one of many.
Typical “Clintonesque lies”. Hillary actually believes the lies she tells. She is a Dangerous woman and would make a more Dangerous President.
Same old Hillary B.S., different day. Gee, I hope America isn’t dumb enough to elect her or “deaf-to-the-preacher” Obama.
WHOOPS! Hilly caught exagerating her questionable qualifications again.
How sad, when America is in the greatest need of a LEADER all we have to choose from is Bill’s wife the radical Maxist/socialist, Obama,also a socialist, who’s been a senator for almost 2 years and has spent most of that time running for president with a resume less than a page long, and an old man who seemingly joined the Republican party because that’s where he could get elected senator. God help America.
This is typical Clinton-doublespeak - She outright lies to get the effect (on multiple occasions) and then back tracks after the damage is done. This time it was to leave the impression that she has the right stuff to be Commander in Chief. But the fact is that she has offered this lie several times in spite of the fact that her husband HAD in fact been in Bosnia at that very place weeks before, and in spite of the fact that there was no sniper fire, and in spite of the fact that she did not run but walked on the tarmac - to an 8 year old girl who stood there without fear. These are all lies she deliberately told to mislead the American public - for votes. There is a deep integrity problem with the Clintons.
…Soon she will tell us about her years of military service!
cork·screw /ˈkɔrkˌskru/ -[kawrk-skroo] - noun:
1) Known as an aerial, evasive move in a spiral or zigzag course
2) Well known, evasive move and verbal dance unveiled by corrupt presidentiial candidates Clinton’s, that convicted him of perjury and kawrk-skrooed her presidential career.