Rand Paul touts Benghazi conspiracy involving secret CIA arms trade

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Thursday night offered a fresh conspiracy regarding the attack in Benghazi, claiming the Obama administration could be trying to hide a secret arms trade.

"I never have quite understood the cover-up -- if it was intentional or incompetence," he told CNN's Erin Burnett. "But something went on. I mean, they had talking points that they were trying to make it out to be a movie when everybody seemed to be on the ground telling them it had nothing to do a movie. I don't know if this was for political reasons."

"I've actually always suspected that, although I have no evidence, that maybe we were facilitating arms leaving Libya going through Turkey into Syria."

The Republican senator said the New York Times had reported that Turkish ships were transporting weapons from Libya to Syria. How falsely claiming the attack on the U.S. consulate occurred during a spontaneous demonstration would help cover-up such a situation was unclear.

"I don't know," Paul said. "Were they trying to obscure that there was an arms operation going on at the CIA annex? I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but I think questions ought to be asked and answered, and I'm a little curious when employees of the State Department are told by government officials they shouldn't testify and then they are sort of sequestered and kept away from testimony, so I think there may be more to this."

During a congressional hearing in January, Paul asked then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if the CIA was sending weapons from Benghazi into other countries. Clinton replied that Paul would have to ask the CIA.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by CNN, below:

[Note: Updated with additional information]