Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Monday accused Mitt Romney of trying to exploit the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya for political gain.
"Mitt Romney and his team look pretty small for the way they tried to exploit this whole thing for political purposes, drumming up these kind of conspiracy theories," said Van Hollen in an interview on CNN.
The Maryland lawmaker cited a Wall Street Journal report Sunday that said President Obama was told in his intelligence briefings for a week after the Libya assault that the violence had been sparked by a spontaneous protest. Van Hollen said the report proves that Obama administration officials were acting in good faith when they initially attributed the attack to Muslim anger over an anti-Islam video.
"Well, there’s no doubt we should get to the bottom of the intelligence information, but what this clearly shows is that the president and [U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations] Susan Rice and others were presenting the American people with the facts as they were provided to them by the intelligence agencies," Van Hollen said.
Romney and congressional Republicans have hammered Obama over the attack in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Romney has accused the administration of waiting over 2 weeks to peg the assault a terrorist attack and said that the administration needs to be more forthcoming about security measures at the Consulate before the attack.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has launched a probe into whether the administration denied requests to heighten security, citing testimony from State Department officials who said their requests for more protection in Libya were rebuffed.
The Libya attack is expected to be a dominant topic at the third presidential debate Monday night between Obama and Romney in Boca Raton, Fla., which will be focused on foreign policy.
