President Barack Obama said in an interview airing on CBS on Sunday that officials with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo were trying to “cool the situtation down” when they condemned an anti-Islamic movie that sparked protests that subsequently turned deadly in the Middle East this week.
“In an effort to cool the situation down, it didn’t come from me, it didn’t come form Secretary Clinton, it came from people on the ground who are potentially in danger,” Obama said. “And my tendency is to cut folks a little bit of slack when they’re in that circumstance, rather than try to question their judgment from the comfort of a campaign office.”
Obama said while the U.S. believes in the First Amendment, the film “is not representative of who we are, and our values, and I think it is important for us to communicate that.” He added that there is “never an excuse for violence against Americans.”
