Former Ambassador Richard Williamson, a top foreign policy adviser to the Romney campaign, said Tuesday that the Republican nominee would call on President Obama to "man up" and "accept his responsibility" for the terrorist attack on the American diplomatic mission in Libya.
In an interview with Fox News, Williamson, who served as ambassador to the U.N. for special political affairs, said that despite a town-hall debate format that involves more of an interaction with undecided voters than a back-and-forth between the candidates, he believed Romney could question "why we can't get transparency" about the attacks.
"They have a right to know, to make judgments about his stewardship as president and I think Gov. Romney, quite properly, will be asking questions, probing," Williamson said.
He added that Romney would try "to ask the president to man up, accept his responsibility and explain to the people the failure that resulted in four American deaths."
On Monday night, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she took responsibility for the attacks in an interview with CNN.
“I take responsibility,” Clinton told CNN, adding that she wanted "to avoid some kind of political gotcha."
Clinton also said the White House was not involved in security decisions, echoing a comment made by Vice President Biden during the vice presidential debate.
On Tuesday, President Obama ignored a question from a reporter about whether he believed Clinton was, in fact, responsible for the security breach that led to the first death of an American ambassador in decades.
During a White House press briefing earlier this week, press secretary Jay Carney emphasized that the State Department made decisions about where security personnel were placed.
“There are thousands of diplomatic personnel across the world," Carney said. "There are countless facilities around the world. And I am saying when it comes to the number of personnel who are in place at consulates and embassies and other diplomatic facilities around the world, those decisions are appropriately made at the State Department by security personnel."
Carney also blasted House Republicans for voting to decrease funding for embassy security.
"This president fights to make sure that embassy security and diplomatic security is adequately funded and make sure that that funding is restored when efforts on Capitol Hill are made principally by House Republicans, including Congressman Ryan to slash it in order to cut taxes for the wealthiest 2 percent in this country," Carney said. "You bet that’s the president’s responsibility and he has demonstrated that he’s kept that responsibility.”
