Wash. Post’s Thiessen: Obama Skipped Intelligence Briefings “One Day After A Terrorist Attack.” In his September 13 Washington Post column, Marc Thiessen claimed that Obama had been skipping intelligence meetings in the lead-up to the Benghazi attack. Specifically, he wrote that Obama “was scheduled to hold [his daily] intelligence meeting at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, the day after the attacks,” but that it was canceled so that he could comfort State Department employees. Thiessen then claimed that “instead of rescheduling the intelligence briefing for later in the day, Obama apparently chose to skip it altogether.” [The Washington Post,9/13/12]
Rove Suggests That After Benghazi Attack, Obama Failed To Meet With “Intelligence Chiefs.” On Fox’s America’s Newsroom, while discussing the October 11 vice presidential debate with host Bill Hemmer, Rove said that the one substantive issue in the debate that would linger is the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack. Rove suggested that Obama canceled his presidential daily briefing and did not later receive a briefing on the situation from intelligence officials:
ROVE: Well, if there was one substantive issue that came out of last night that’s going to remain and linger, it’s exactly that, Libya. What did the administration know and when did they know it? And it fits into a broader context, which is the handling of this. Remember, the president of the United States receives news on the night of September 11 in Washington, D.C., that our ambassador has been killed at the consulate in Benghazi, and he cancels, the next morning, his presidential daily brief with the intelligence community in order to go to the State Department, console the foreign service.
And then he — rather than returning to the White House and meeting with the intelligence chiefs, he gets on an airplane, flies to Las Vegas in order to attend a fundraiser and campaign event, flies to Denver overnight so he can have a campaign event in Colorado the next day. [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 10/12/12]
White House Press Secretary Says Obama Received Briefing From Deputy National Security Adviser On September 12. During a September 13 a press gaggle, reporters asked White House press secretary Jay Carney whether Obama was monitoring the protests over an anti-Muslim video in Cairo. Carney responded that after the incidents in Cairo and Benghazi, Obama directed security to be enhanced and diplomatic facilities around the world. He added, “I meant to and neglected to last night read out a briefing he received from his Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough that was focused specifically on developments in the region with regards to the protest, but especially on the progress of efforts underway to enhance security at our facilities.” Carney added that Obama would also have a briefing later that day with senior members of his national security team. [WhiteHouse.gov, 9/13/12]
Carney: Obama Was Briefed Twice On September 13. In a September 14 press briefing, Carney said that in addition receiving the presidential daily briefing, as he does every day, Obama was briefed “directly, by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, by Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, by Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan, and others, including a secure call at 2:00 p.m. yesterday and another briefing at 10:00 p.m. yesterday.” [WhiteHouse.gov, 9/14/12]