Republicans are using Vice President Biden's inaccurate description of the security situation in Libya during Thursday's debate to accuse the Obama administration of being either deceitful or incompetent.
“Biden on Benghazi was so wrong last night,” former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said on CBS's "This Morning" on Friday, “it’s going to haunt them from now until the next debate.”
Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died on Sept. 11 when heavily armed Islamist militants attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. State Department officials testified at a House hearing Wednesday that the U.S. mission in Libya repeatedly asked for more security in the months before the attack but was rebuffed by Washington.
“All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources,” the State Department's former top regional security officer in Libya, Eric Nordstrom, testified Wednesday. Cables obtained by the House Oversight Committee confirm that testimony.
“We weren't told they wanted more security there,” Biden said Thursday. “We did not know they wanted more security.”
Romney campaign adviser Dan Senor immediately pounced, saying Biden's comments “point to the larger failures of the administration to be completely transparent about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi and the security situations leading up to the attacks.”
“Vice President Biden tonight continued the administration’s pattern of misleading the American people about events in Libya,” Senor said in a statement late Thursday night. “He wrongly stated that the administration was not aware of requests for more security from our diplomatic facilities in Libya.
“We need leaders who will be truthful with the American people and who are informed about vital issues of national security.”
For more on Republicans' reaction to Biden's comments on Libya, click here.
