CNN host Don Lemon is calling out Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for “lying” to cover up his initial reaction to the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Libya, that President Barack Obama had “sympathized” with the attackers.

“A rush to judgment, and then lying to cover it up,” Lemon said at the top of his “No Talking Points” segment on Sunday, noting that Romney’s campaign had drafted a statement accusing the president of sympathizing with U.S. enemies before most of the facts about the embassy attacks and the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens were known.

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“[Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton’s statement in no way apologizes nor sympathizes with the attackers,” Lemon pointed out. “Anyone who tells you it did is lying. If you believe it did, you are misguided. Even a statement that was released earlier from the embassy in Cairo never sympathize nor apologize, yet in a following hours and days, instead of correcting course, the Romney campaign doubled down.”

“In an effort to politicize the attacks and deaths of an American diplomat and three other heroes, Mr. Romney not only dealt a major blow to his campaign but had given his opponent a gift, the ability to politicize and even without trying by appearing to take the high road,” the CNN host explained.

In fact, Obama had told CBS News on Wednesday that Romney “seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.”

“And as president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that,” Obama said. “That, you know, it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts. And that you’ve thought through the ramifications before you make ‘em.”

Lemon observed that “there was nothing the Romney campaign could do to counter” the president’s argument.

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“Yet in an odd contrast, before the ceremony [for Ambassador Stevens] had even ended, Mitt Romney took to the stage in Ohio to bash the very people who were paying tribute to the fallen,” Lemon recalled. “And from my perch here at the anchor desk and to many of you watching at home, you wrote me and told me it felt weird, uncomfortable and sad.”

“How can a man in a campaign that throws around the word ‘patriot’ so often get this one so wrong.”

Watch this video from CNN’s Newsroom, broadcast Sept. 16, 2012.

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(h/t: The Huffington Post)