CBS Evening News let out a bit of a bombshell tonight, admitting on the air that it was Republicans on the Hill who provided the media with false quotes that are the only real smoking gun the GOP has buttressing its conspiracy-theory surrounding the Benghazi attack.

As I noted the other day, the email at the core of the Republican case that the White House ‘fixed’ the Benghazi talking points, in the immediate aftermath of the attack on our consulate, in order to edit out any reference to ‘terrorism,’ in a supposed effort to minimize public concern about the attack in the weeks before the 2012 election, is a fake.

The actual White House email, far from proving an attempt by the White House to “spin” Benghazi for political purposes, shows a White House concerned about getting the facts right.

CBS News said tonight that the false quotes “had been provided by Republicans,” and that “on Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes,” referring to then- White House Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes.

CBS’ story online makes clear that they’re referring to “Republicans on Capitol Hill.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill claimed they found proof in White House emails that they leaked to reporters last week. It turns out some of the quotes were wrong.

To make the point even more clear, CBS had these handy graphics:

You can read my earlier post for more of the background on the fake and real Benghazi emails.

As Josh Marshall notes, usually when sources lie, reporters don’t do anything about it. At the very least, they never hold the lying source accountable publicly. This time, without naming names, but by naming parties, they are.

If the Republicans can’t come up with a real scandal, they’ll manufacture one.