DANVILLE, KY - During the vice presidential debate tonight, when pressed about the lack of security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi before the attack on 9/11,Vice President Joe Biden said, "We weren't told they wanted more security. We did not know they wanted more security there."
Biden's statement is false. As I wrote earlier, documents, State Department cables and Congressional testimony just this week show more security for the consulate in Benghazi was requested as early as March 2012. All three also showed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens received death threats from Al Qaeda in July 2012. More from Foreign Policy:
Two security officials who worked for the State Department in Libya at the time testified Thursday that they repeatedly requested more security and two State Department officials admitted they had denied those requests.
"All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources," the top regional security officer in Libya over the summer, Eric Nordstrom, testified. "In those conversations, I was specifically told [by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb] ‘You cannot request an SST extension.' I determined I was told that because there would be too much political cost. We went ahead and requested it anyway."
Nordstrom was so critical of the State Department's reluctance to respond to his calls for more security that he said, "For me, the Taliban is on the inside of the building."
"We felt great frustration that those requests were ignored or just never met," testified Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, a Utah National Guardsman who was leading a security team in Libya until August.
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After the debate, Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter said she "didn't catch the exchange" when Biden made the false comments.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who sits on the House Ovesright and Government Reform Committee, did catch Biden's comments.
"I found it shocking the Vice President claims he doesn't know that more assets were required in Libya. He's supposed to be the foreign policy expert, if he doesn't know that, especially after yesterday's hearing. Where in the world is he," Chaffetz told Townhall. "Every day begs more questions from this administration. We had four people confirm under sworn testimony that yes, the security officials on the ground were asking for more assets and did not get them."
Chaffetz also responded to Cutter's comments earlier today when she said the "entire reason" why the attack in Benghazi has become a national issue is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
"We have four dead Americans, that's offensive," Chaffetz said.
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