Obama Refuses To Answer Directly When Asked if Security Denied DURING Benghazi Attack
Kyle Clare of 9News Denver was given an opportunity to interview Barack Obama today. They asked for some requests for questions from twitter. Many people demanded he ask about Benghazi.
Interviewing @BarackObama today. What would you like to hear him address? @9NEWS #copolitics
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 26, 2012
I zeroed in on what I thought would be the key question:
.@KyleClark ask Obama a very simple question – did White House or State Dept deny security requests to #Benghazi during the 7 hour attack?
— el Sooper (@SooperMexican) October 26, 2012
A few hours later, it turns out requests like mine made it to Kyle, and he responded with this:
.@BarackObama would not directly answer our repeated questions on whether requests for help in Benghazi were denied #copolitics
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 26, 2012
Q: Is it fair voters have to wait until post-election to learn truth abt Libya? @BarackObama: Election has nothing to do w/ {it} #copolitics
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 26, 2012
He clarified that he asked about requests made during the attack:
@copeakpolitics To clarify, our question was whether requests DURING the attack were denied. Full writeup/video coming
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) October 26, 2012
Earlier today, Jake Tapper reported that the CIA has stated that any no security requests were denied:
CIA spox: "No one at any level in the CIA told anybody not to help those in need; claims to the contrary are simply inaccurate. ”
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 26, 2012
But notice the specific quote – “No one at any level in the CIA.” Could they be hinting that an order came from higher up?
Of course, most media outlets like Buzzfeed will focus on the ridiculous “Bulls**tter” comment he also asked about.
Write up and video from 9news coming soon.
More from Colorado Peak Politics here
UPDATE:
From the 9NEWS writeup [emphasis added]:
President Obama discussed the situation in Libya during a satellite interview Friday afternoon with 9NEWS reporter Kyle Clark, who also asked if it’s fair for Americans to be told to wait until after the election to learn what truly happened in Libya.
“The election has nothing to do with four brave Americans getting killed and us wanting to find out exactly what happened,” President Obama said. “Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do.”
President Obama was directly asked twice whether pleas for help on the ground in Libya were denied during the attack. Both times, he repeated his standard call for a thorough investigation.
We’ve seen in the past where Obama withholds information just to anger his critics, then releases it later to undermine criticism. He might be trying that tactic here, or he may really be covering up what happened, and his personal complicity in denying security requests.
UPDATE:
Released Transcript here [emphasis added]:
KYLE CLARK: Were they denied requests for help during the attack?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, we are finding out exactly what happened. I can tell you, as I’ve said over the last couple of months since this happened, the minute I found out what was happening, I gave three very clear directives. Number one, make sure that we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to. Number two, we’re going to investigate exactly what happened so that it doesn’t happen again. Number three, find out who did this so we can bring them to justice. And I guarantee you that everyone in the state department, our military, the CIA, you name it, had number one priority making sure that people were safe. These were our folks and we’re going to find out exactly what happened, but what we’re also going to do it make sure that we are identifying those who carried out these terrible attacks.
As I’ve pointed out before, Obama has already admitted that he knows who at the State Department denied security requests – why is he saying he needs to find out?