One day after the now infamous CBS 60 Minutes piece about Benghazi, Senator Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) threatened to put a hold on Obama administration nominees until he was granted access to State Department survivors of the attack. Graham has now agreed to release holds on two of those nominees. If there is one nominee Graham shouldn’t let off the hook, it’s one he did – the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt who is accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood during her tenure there.

Anne Patterson: Muslim Brotherhood “stooge” set for promotion?

Via Foreign Policy:

Since October, the South Carolina Republican has vowed to block President Obama’s nominees from being confirmed by the Senate unless the administration makes more eyewitnesses of the September 2012 attack in Benghazi available to Congress. But a Graham spokesperson says her boss has made an exception for Anne Patterson, Obama’s pick for Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Gregory Starr, nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security. Graham’s holds on all other administration nominees remain in place.

When asked if the State Department gave Graham anything in return for the lifted holds, the spokesperson said “no.” A State Department official concurred: “I don’t think there was anything — just acknowledgment of them as imp[ortant] posts.” {emphasis ours}

If there is any nominee Graham should put a hold on, it’s Patterson. A larger issue should involve questions about why the Obama administration is seeking to promote her.

In August of this year, it was learned that Hisham Barakat, Egypt’s Attorney General, received multiple complaints that Muslim Brotherhood leaders were receiving bribes from the U.S. embassy in Cairo. A Qatari document which we published at the time seemed to bolster these claims as several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were identified as having received monthly “gifts” (bribes) in U.S. Dollars. As we wrote at the time, the names on the Qatari document match many of the names identified in the complaints filed with Barakat. As the U.S. Ambassador at the time, Patterson should have been made to answer questions. Instead, less than three months later, she’s up for a promotion and Graham is lifting his hold on her nomination.

Qatar Document indicates Bribes in U.S. Dollars

Foreign Policy also reported on Patterson’s grossly inaccurate and inadvisable comments during a speech shortly before the overthrow of Mohammed Mursi:

As the violent standoff over the future of Egypt continues, U.S. ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson has become a lightning rod for critics of U.S. policy in the country.

The tip of the spear for U.S.-Egypt diplomacy, Patterson’s June 18 speech discouraging street protests has come to symbolize the administration’s inability to recognize the potency of Egypt’s liberal opposition. “Some say that street action will produce better results than elections,” Patterson said. “To be honest, my government and I are deeply skeptical.” {emphasis ours}

Such a gaffe should have caused her removal, not a promotion. The fact of the matter is that Egyptians consider Patterson a “stooge” for the Muslim Brotherhood. As Gatestone Institute’s Raymond Ibrahim reported in the days after Mursi’s ouster, Egyptians who disliked Patterson were “many and unambiguous”. One Egyptian politician alleged that Patterson was a member of a “sleeper cell”.

If Obama were at all concerned about allaying perceptions that his administration is pro-Muslim Brotherhood, why would he seek to give Patterson more responsibility? Again, of all nominees, why would Graham lift the hold on this one?

Two clueless stooges.

Jen Psaki, a spokesman for the State Department Patterson represented at the time as an ambassador, called for the release of Mursi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. You might remember that Graham also traveled to Egypt with Senator John McCain (RINO-AZ) in the weeks after Mursi’s ouster and called for the release of… Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

The motive for Graham’s decision to lift the hold on Patterson is not known but his stated motive for putting a hold on nominees has to do with his desire to talk to State Department employees who witnessed the Benghazi attack. Again, as we have asserted and as evidence indicates, there is an Egyptian connection to the Benghazi attacks. That connection leads to Muslim Brotherhood circles more and more with each passing day.

Graham’s decision to lift the hold on Patterson is indeed curious and should call into question his stated desire to get to the bottom of what happened in Benghazi.