Posted on October 10, 2012

Tapper To Carney On Libya: "Didn't Obama Shoot First And Aim Later?"

ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper asks White House press secretary Jay Carney about the timeline of events in respect to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.





TAPPER: President Obama, shortly after the attack told "60 Minutes" that regarding Mitt Romney's response to the attacks, specifically in Egypt, the president said that Romney has a tendency to "shoot first and aim later." Given the fact that so much was made out of the video that apparently had absolutely nothing to do with the attack in Benghazi, that there wasn't even a protest outside the Benghazi post, didn't President Obama shoot first and aim later?



CARNEY: First of all, Jake, I think your assessment of what we know now is not complete, but I would simply say that the -



TAPPER: I’m just going by what the State Department said yesterday.



CARNEY: Look, there is no question that in the region, including in Cairo, there were demonstrations reacting to the release of that video, and I will leave it to those who are testifying on the hill to -



TAPPER: You said yesterday there was no protest? I’m talking about in Benghazi.



CARNEY: Right. I’m not disputing that there was a protest, but what we said at the time was that the intelligence community assessed that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo, ok? Again, this is a moving picture, and people who, on the night of an attack, or the day after, claim they know all the facts without making clear that what we know is based on preliminary information aren’t being straight. In some cases trying to politicize a situation that should not be politicized.