David Axelrod claims the president's Republican challenger is using the embassy attack to score political points in the election

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A senior adviser to Barack Obama has accused the president's Republican challenger Mitt Romney of attempting to "exploit" an attack on the US consulate in Libya for political gain.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, David Axelrod, a key member of the president's inner circle, said there was "no doubt" that Romney was "working hard to exploit the issue".

It comes amid growing pressure on the White House to disclose if any senior administration figures were informed of a request for increased diplomatic security at its Benghazi compound prior to the attack in which four Americans, including ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.

Exactly who in the White House was aware of the request has become an issue in the election campaign in recent days, after vice-president Joe Biden suggested during a debate Thursday that neither he nor Obama had been informed.

"We weren't told they wanted more security; we did not know they wanted more security."

Republicans have accused the vice-president of misleading Americans over the remarks.

Romney campaign adviser Ed Gillespie told Fox News Sunday that Biden had directly contradicted evidence given to a congressional oversight and government reform committee last week.

A diplomatic cable presented to the political body shows that Stevens asked the state department for an additional 11 security personnel just weeks before the attack.

Axelrod suggested that when Biden spoke of "we" in his comments denying knowledge of the ambassadors request prior to the assault, he was referring only to himself and Obama.

Speaking on the same show, Gillespie accused the president and vice-president of trying to pin the blame to the state department.

He said: "Clearly … what we have been seeing is an effort by President Obama and vice-president Biden to say 'No, it's really Secretary Clinton. It was the state department you ought to be looking at and talking to and criticising here or questioning here, as opposed to us in the White House.'"