Officials in Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE's State Department were warned against saying that an anti-Muslim video contributed to the the 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a new email released on Friday reveals.



The warning came from the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, on Sept. 14, 2012, three days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in which four Americans were killed.

“Our monitoring of the Libyan media and conversations with Libyans suggest that the films [sic] not as explosive of an issue here as it appears to be in other countries in the region,” the email said.

“And it is becoming increasingly clear that the series of events in Benghazi was much more terrorist attack than a protest which escalated into violence,” it continued.

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The email, addressed to "colleagues" and whose author was redacted before it was made public, advised officials to be “cautious in our local messaging with regard to the inflammatory film trailer” so as not to “draw unwanted attention to it.”

It noted that “relatively few [Libyans] have even mentioned the inflammatory video.”

Despite the email, the House Select Committee on Benghazi said Clinton and other officials continued to blame the video on the attack.

“Secretary Clinton continued to associate the video with what happened in Benghazi in public remarks two and three days after the attacks, including at a transfer of remains ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base with family members of the victims present,” a statement from the panel on Friday said.

At a hearing with the House Select Committee on Benghazi last month, Clinton said she did not intend to “ At a hearing with the House Select Committee on Benghazi last month, Clinton said she did not intend to “ ascribe a motive to every attacker ” by associating the video with the attack.