Deputy Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter defended her earlier assertion that the Libya attacks had become a political issue thanks to public statements by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in a testy interview with FOX News on Thursday.
“Who was the first person to respond to the Libya attacks? It was Mitt Romney,” she said. “And Mitt Romney was criticized for that attack because it was political.”
Cutter was referring to Romney’s statement the night of the deadly attack that Obama’s “first response” was to “sympathize” with terrorists. That charge was largely unrelated to the current investigation, which concerns the origin of the attacks and embassy security.
The same hour, Romney criticized Cutter for making a similar suggestion earlier amid criticism from the White House for sending mixed messages in the aftermath of the Benghazi murders as to whether they were connected to protests or part of an unrelated, pre-planned terrorist attack.
“No, President Obama, it’s an issue because this is the first time in 33 years that a U.S. Ambassador has been assassinated,” Romney said. “Mr. President, this is an issue because we were attacked successfully by terroirsts on the anniversary of 9/11. President Obama this is an issue because Ameircans wonder why it took so long for you and your administraiton to admit that this was a terrorist attack.”
Cutter told FOX News that the initial confusion did not reflect a “cover up,” as some Republicans have alleged, but new facts that emerged from an ongoing investigation. She noted that the Director of National Intelligence’s office said last month that their initial look into the attacks suggested it exploited protests over an anti-Muslim film only to find under further investigation that they were likely unconnected.
