The White House on Friday said Vice President Biden was speaking for himself and President Obama when he said the administration was unaware of additional requests for security in Libya.
"He was speaking directly for himself and for the president," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at his daily briefing.
The explanation came after Biden made waves during his debate with GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan by indicating the administration was unaware of requests by State Department officials for additional security in Libya.
“We weren’t told they wanted more security. We did not know they wanted more security there,” Biden said Thursday as GOP vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan hammered the administration over a Sept. 11 attack that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others dead.
Republicans have seized on the comments, arguing the contradiction with testimony suggests Biden was trying to mislead voters or that he and Obama were unaware of the need for more security in Libya.
Administration officials on Friday argued Biden spoke accurately because he and Obama were unaware of requests for additional security that were made to the State Department. Those requests were revealed in testimony this week at a House panel hearing the day before Biden's debate.
"If you look at the testimony there was no talk of request for personnel made here" at the White House, Carney said Friday. "These kinds of issues are handled in the State Department by security professionals," he added.
For more on Carney's comments, click here.
