Obama cites Benghazi phone call with national security team — but no meeting
On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said he called up his National Security team by phone while the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was being attacked, but did not say that he held a meeting before he flew to a fundraiser in Las Vegas.
“As soon as we found out that the Benghazi consulate was being overrun, I was on the phone with my national security team and I gave them three instructions,” Obama told a questioner during the town hall debate in Hofstra University.
The president’s mention of a phone call — not a formal meeting in the White House — with his national security team may fuel Republican accusations that the president is more focused on his re-election campaign than national security.
Prior to the Sept. 11 jihadi attack on the Benghazi facility that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Obama had scaled back his meetings with intelligence officials.
On Sept. 10, 2012, Marc Thiessen, a Washington Post columnist and a Republican, cited a report by the Government Accountability Institute to bolster his argument that “national security has not necessarily been the personal priority the president makes it out to be.”
“During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent,” Thiessen wrote.
>>> Obama cites Benghazi phone call with national security team — but no meeting
That was what I remembered.
He knew a situation developing in Benghazi, left someone(s) else in charge, continued Las Vegas fundrasing as scheduled, then as events got out of hand, sent Rice and his lapdogs to spread smear about a youtube video.
And all this time, none of those left in charge ever thought of keeping Obama up-to-the-minute informed. ???!!!!???!!