Benghazi survivor Kris Paronto told Fox News he wanted to ‘choke’ Obama. The Secret Service was listening
‘I just wanted to reach through the screen and just grab him – grab him and choke him … I wish I had that man sitting in front of me right now’
Six years ago on Tuesday, Islamic militants laid siege to the US mission in Benghazi, Libya. Kris “Tanto” Paronto was there that night.
Paronto, a former Army Ranger turned security contractor and author, repelled attacks on a nearby CIA annex and helped rescue more than 20 people, according to his biography page, during an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
The political fallout from the attack again became a topic of conservation during a speech Friday by former president Barack Obama, who said Republicans have seized on a number of “wild conspiracy theories like those surrounding Benghazi”.
“It just raises the bile inside of me … and when that came across, I just wanted to reach through the screen and just grab him – grab him and choke him,” Paronto said. He later said with a clap: “I wish I had that man sitting in front of me right now without his Secret Service.”
Host Pete Hegseth cautioned Paronto on his choice of words. “Well, be careful with that because he’s a former president,” he said.
“Yeah, I know,” Paronto responded. “But it doesn’t get yourself away from saying comments when my friends died in front of me.”