Is this still regarded as a legit scandal?
Only by the fringe true believers.
I think the answer would have been obvious had you bothered to watch the 60 Minutes piece.
Maybe if anyone could every actually explain what the scandal is.
In order to exploit what the Administration considered its twin victories over Al Qua'ida and the overthrow of Quadafi in Libya, the Administration embraced a smaller less invasive security strategy in Libya. As such, and despite 1. numerous requests from the American Embassy in Libya for additional security; 2. a history of explicit attacks and published threats against the Consulate; 3. offers from the US Military to provide assistance, the State Department refused to offer additional security, leaving the Consulate barely defended on 9/11/2012. In the last entry of the Ambassador's personal diary is written "never ending security risks."
At the same time, the head of security planning for the 9/11/2012 anniversary had not bothered to talk to the top Military Commander in the region, and as a consequence quick reaction forces and contingency forces were not in place (that person was PROMOTED to the head of the CIA).
On the night of the attack, the only forces that were mustered came from the CIA annex (who acted alone and without orders) and a small force from the Embassy in Tripoli (who paid for the plane using their own funds). The State Department made the decision not to send FEST while the attack was still going on and the ambassador was still missing.
Despite extensive foreknowledge of the attack, and actual knowledge that the attack had been perpetrated by Al Qua'ida affiliated militia groups in Benghazi, the Administration and State Department began spinning an obviously false tale that the attack had spontaneously arose out of a non-existent protest outside the consulate. This was so despite the fact that there was no demonstration outside the consulate, the people actually in Libya declared that it was a terrorist attack, and the US Government had told the Libyan Government that it was Al Qua'ida affiliated militia groups on 9/12. This lead to the farcical situation where the President of Libyan was lambasting the US Government for sticking to a story that he called preposterous, yet Obama was still telling the American people that obviously false story at least a week later.
Subsequently, the Administration and State Department have gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up the extent of their foreknowledge by refusing to make critical witnesses and documents available.
In other words, the Administration and the State Department didn't provide necessary security, they lied about the nature of the attack, compromised the subsequent criminal investigation and have intentionally stonewalled any real investigation.
Oh yeah, no one at all got punished and the "independent" ARB did not even bother to interview the head of the State Department.
There are of course a 1000 additional details that have been covered by me in this thread. Let me make it even simpler:
People Died and then the Government Lied.
