Obama administration's Libyan narrative begins to fall apart

Obama administration's Libya narrative begins to fall apart

Congressman Jason Chaffetz talks about investigation into Benghazi attack

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," October 12, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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INGRAHAM: In the "Impact" segment tonight the Obama administration's Libyan narrative continues to fall apart. As we told you in the "Talking Points" memo Vice President Biden claimed that he and the President didn't know about the request for more security there.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about this today by Fox News Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: You are saying from this podium that the President and the Vice President have never been briefed about the fact that security -- more security was needed in Benghazi? That you are saying they were never in the presidential daily briefing, never briefed?

CARNEY: What I'm saying is that matters of security personnel are appropriately discussed and decided upon at the State Department by those responsible for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining us now from New York is Congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah. All right. Congressman well you were just over in Libya and you have been investigating this yourself and you heard some blockbuster testimony this week on Capitol Hill.

What was your reaction, first to what the Vice President said last night number one, that they didn't know of any security requests. Number two, blaming the intelligence community for this idea that it was a spontaneous protest that got out of control?

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: It was absolutely shocking for the Vice President to admit out loud that he had no idea what was going on. Ignorance is hardly a defense. The fact of the matter is there two -- over 230 security incidents there in Libya. Our consulate there in -- in Benghazi had been bombed twice.

Now where else in the world are you aware of any consulate or embassy having been bombed twice? It's Libya. It's 9/11. The British ambassador had an assassination attempt. And then the -- the request for personnel continues to go forward to the administration is not only denied, they reduced the security personnel profile there in Libya.

This is a place where the British pulled out. There were actually al Qaeda flags flying above government buildings. And when I went to Libya last Saturday, I was there most of the day. Not a single person ever mentioned a video. So this administration continues to have a lot of questions that go unanswered, in fact, compounded by the fact that the White House, the Vice President, they continue -- they are just not being straight with the American people. They have a lot to answer for.

INGRAHAM: Congressman Chaffetz do you think that the Vice President lied last night at the debate on this Libya question?

CHAFFETZ: Well, he could very well be that he was never in the loop. But he's the Vice President of the United States. And I don't think ignorance is -- is -- is a good defense. I think the reality is they should have known.

Good leadership, a good President should be saying my goodness we were bombed in Libya twice? What are we doing to improve security there? Not just sit back and wait and see. We have four people killed. We haven't had a U.S. ambassador killed overseas since the 1970s.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, the "The Washington Post" today is reporting that political chaos in Libya today hampers the U.S. probe of the deadly Benghazi attacks. And basically saying that when you call over, when we call over to officials in Libya, no one is answering the phone.

So, it's more than a month later and apparently, according to this article, we've made very little progress because of the situation on the ground which begs the question if it's difficult on the ground now, presumably it was difficult on the ground before September 11th, correct?

CHAFFETZ: On September 1st, the Interior Minister there in Libya issued a high alert. It's the maximum alert they can. Ambassador Stevens sent that cable to Washington, D.C. That is -- that is on September 1st. In fact, the memo went out September 4th. How is it a week before nobody is paying attention to Washington, D.C. saying oh my goodness. There is problem, let's get these people some more assets. These people need some more help.

INGRAHAM: Well what about the Republicans voting against more security for the embassies? Paul Ryan got stung with that last night by Joe Biden. Was that true or not?

CHAFFETZ: No, in the last five years the State Department budget has increased 118 percent. This is a question about priorities. In fact, under testimony, we asked Charlene Lamb, who is in charge of the embassies and security, and we asked her, was there denial of more personnel in Libya a result of a lack of funding? And she said "no".

So it's a -- it's a red herring. It's something they put out there as a straw man to try to distract. But when your budget is increased 118 percent over five years you have to make priorities, you have to make choices. We have over 6,000 private contractors in Baghdad and yet, we barely have two dozen in Libya.

INGRAHAM: Well, are you going to bring Susan Rice to Capitol Hill to testify.

CHAFFETZ: I want to hear from the President. I want to hear from Secretary Clinton. I want to hear from Ambassador Rice and I want the intelligence community to be able to voice this out because I think the administration should have known beforehand that this was going to happen.

INGRAHAM: Congressman, thank you so much.

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