"I think there is no question that the administration was covering up from day one," Giuliani told Fox News.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday there was "no question" the Obama administration was trying to cover up that terrorism was responsible for the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya that left the American ambassador to that country and three others dead.
"I think there is no question that the administration was covering up from day one," Giuliani told Fox News. "Putting out a totally phony story to block the political criticism that the president took his eye off the ball. The president, in his haste to make himself a tremendous hero over getting bin Laden deserves credit, but my god, he wanted to make himself into a superhero."
The Obama administration blamed the attack on protests surrounding an anti-Islam video, though Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday suggested a link to an al Qaeda-affiliated group.
The administration has argued militants used protests over the video as cover to launch a spontaneous attack, while Republicans have insisted the attack was premeditated, given the weapons used by the attackers.
Giuliani went on to say that President Obama was "showing his failure all over the world" and compared him to former President Jimmy Carter.
And the mayor accused the media of providing cover for Obama's "cover-up related to the security of the United States of America."
"The only reason it isn't played as a major scandal [is] the president has three-quarters of the media in the tank," Giuliani said. "It's a disgrace. It should be a scandal."
The mayor added that the president had "checked out" because of the presidential campaign.
"Here is the problem, the world events haven't checked out and the Islamic extremist terrorists haven't checked out," Giuliani said.
Earlier Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told CBS News that it was “unbelievable” and “disgraceful” that the administration had initially blamed the video for the attack.
“It was obvious that this was a planned attack, where they carried heavy weapons, mortars, RPGs, and clearly, it was not a demonstration, nor was it a result of a hateful video,” McCain said.
On Wednesday, Carney defended the release of initial reports, and underscored that the White House had continually maintained that the situation was developing and that it was "continuing an investigation that will undoubtedly uncover more facts."
"We made clear that our initial assessment and interim reports were based on information that was available at the time," Carney said. "Several administration officials … have spoken on the record about the information we have. We have also been clear that there's an ongoing FBI investigation and that we must allow that investigation to take its course. "
