When Vice President Joe Biden said, “We weren’t told they wanted more security” at the US Consulate in Libya, he meant him and President Obama, the White House said in post-debate damage control yesterday.
“He was speaking directly for himself and the president,” Obama spokesman Jay Carney said. “He meant the White House.”
But Biden’s comment in the vice-presidential debate Thursday night with Rep. Paul Ryan left many listeners thinking he was talking about the Obama administration.
US officials said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday that, in fact, the State Department was aware of and rejected requests for more guards at the Benghazi consulate before Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed there with three other staffers on Sept. 11.
Mitt Romney jumped on Biden’s remarks yesterday, saying, “He’s doubling down on denial.”
“When the vice president of the United States directly contradicts the sworn testimony — sworn testimony — of State Department officials, American citizens have a right to know what’s going on,” Romney said at a rally Richmond, Va.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged yesterday that there is still “much” the Obama administration doesn’t know about the attack, which was initially blamed on protesters upset by an anti-Mohammed movie.
Carney said administration officials had been “transparent about what they know.” Asked by reporters if Obama and Biden had been briefed about the Benghazi security situation, he said such matters are “appropriately decided and discussed” at the State Department.
Before Biden’s comment came under fire Thursday night, Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter caused a ruckus herself when she claimed the only reason the Benghazi attack had become “the political topic that it is” was because Romney and Ryan were using it to hammer the Democrats on the campaign trail.