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State Department contradicts Biden's debate claim on Libya security

During Thursday's debate in Danville, Kentucky, Vice President Joe Biden claimed the administration did not know about requests for additional security in Benghazi, Libya. The statement, however, runs contrary to what the State Department said just this week, the Washington Post reported.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Republican vice presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) participate in the vice presidential debate at Centre College on October 11, 2012 in Danville, Kentucky.
Rick Wilking-Pool/Getty Images

As Biden was discussing the attack on the consulate in Benghazi, moderator Martha Raddatz cut in.

“And they wanted more security there,” she said.

“But we weren’t told they wanted more security there,” Biden said. “We did not know they wanted more security there.”

But Glenn Kessler wrote that Biden's statement ran counter to what State Department officials said earlier in the week.

"'All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources,' said Eric Nordstrom, the top regional security officer in Libya earlier this year. A Utah national guardsman who led a security team, Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, said: 'We felt great frustration that those requests were ignored or just never met,'” Kessler added.

During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, five memos requesting additional security were released and State Department officials confirmed the requests had been denied.

Biden also "blamed intelligence officials for the administration's changing account of the terrorist attack," The Hill reported.

"Biden said the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, was repeating what intelligence sources had told her when she blamed the video as a 'proximate cause' of the violence in an interview five days after the attack," The Hill added.

“The intelligence community told us that,” the Vice President said during the debate. “As they learned more facts about exactly what happened, they changed their assessment.”

But that statement also runs counter to earlier reports.

"Within 24 hours of the 9-11 anniversary attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi, U.S. intelligence agencies had strong indications al Qaeda–affiliated operatives were behind the attack, and had even pinpointed the location of one of those attackers," Eli Lake wrote at The Daily Beast in September.

Nevertheless, officials continued to blame an online YouTube video, and Obama campaign operatives are now blaming Republicans and the Romney campaign.

“This is becoming more troubling by the day,” Paul Ryan said. “They first blamed the YouTube video; now they're trying to blame the Romney-Ryan ticket for making this an issue.”

Related:

Paul Ryan scolds Joe Biden for constant interruptions in debate

Wasserman Schultz: GOP 'un-American' for seeking answers to Benghazi attack

GOP Rep. Gowdy on Benghazi terror attack: 'I want to know why we were lied to'

Report: U.S. diplomats warned of security issues 3 days before consulate attack

White House denies State Department warned of possible embassy attacks

House: Administration denied 'repeated requests' for extra security in Benghazi

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