Former Vice President Joe Biden told a Fox News reporter Friday that he did not advise former President Barack Obama against ordering the attack that killed Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden, but video footage and documentary evidence counters his claim.
“If you were ever handed a piece of intelligence that said you can stop an imminent attack on Americans but you have to use an airstrike to take out a terror leader, would you pull the trigger?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden during an Iowa campaign stop.
“Well, we did,” Biden responded. “Guy’s name was Osama bin Laden.”
“Didn’t you tell President Obama not to go after bin Laden?” Doocy asked.
“No, I didn’t. I didn’t,” Biden insisted.
Joe Biden is now trying to cover up his opposition to the Osama bin Laden raid.
Moments ago, Biden says, “No I didn’t” when confronted by Peter Doocy for being against the raid.
8 years ago, Biden said he opposed raid and told Obama, “Mr. President, my suggestion is don’t go.” pic.twitter.com/zAWhMf38MU
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 3, 2020
Trump communications staffer Zach Parkinson tweeted footage of Biden in 2012 explaining his role in the 2011 raid planning, saying: “The president, he went around the table with all the senior people, including the chiefs of staff, and he said, ‘I have to make a decision. What is your opinion?’ He started with the national security advisor, the Secretary of State, and he ended with me. … He said, ‘Joe, what do you think?’ And I said … ‘Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go.'” (RELATED: CNN Anchor Describes Bin Laden’s Death As A ‘Nothing Burger’ Compared To Soleimani Killing)
2/
In 2012, Biden said he told Obama unequivocally: “Mr. President, my suggestion is don’t go.” pic.twitter.com/zTm1HQ6wiZ
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
In the subsequent thread, Parkinson showed how the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate gradually changed his story:
3/ But by 2013, Biden was starting to claim that he privately told Obama to “follow [his] instincts” something which he had never claimed beforehttps://t.co/BTOeLy6QpJ pic.twitter.com/cbjTaeOx8h
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
4/ By 2015, Biden completely contradicted what he said before
Biden claimed he never told Obama “don’t go” and that he privately gave Obama his real advice to “go” and “follow his own instincts” when (conveniently) other witnesses weren’t around pic.twitter.com/qjfKtLCNSg
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
Documentary evidence from administration contemporaries including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and others showed that Biden indeed opposed the raid, according to Parkinson.
6/ In 2012, Obama White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Biden was “speaking accurately” when Biden originally said he was opposed to the raid pic.twitter.com/Z2AnqUp8yP
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
7/ Hillary Clinton in “Hard Choices” said Biden was “skeptical” of the raid pic.twitter.com/Wj7QKYQVVz
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
8/ Obama CIA Director Leon Panetta in his book “Worthy Fights”: Biden was “firmly in favor of waiting” and “did not have enough confidence that bin Laden was in the compound” pic.twitter.com/r2ybrPdG4h
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
9/ Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary at the time, in his book “Duty”: Biden was one of the “two primary skeptics” of the bin Laden raid whose primary concern was the “political consequences of failure” pic.twitter.com/ZlENgOXZZU
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
10/ Michael Morell, then-Deputy CIA Director, later wrote that Biden was “unconvinced about the intelligence and concerned about what a failed mission would do” to U.S.-Pakistani relations pic.twitter.com/xAFUTWRt0G
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
Finally, Parkinson tweeted 2012 debate footage showing Obama himself confirming his former vice president’s position:
“When it comes to going after Osama bin Laden, you said, well, any president would make that call,” Obama told former GOP nominee Mitt Romney. “But when you were a candidate in 2008 … you said we shouldn’t move heaven and earth to get one man, and you said we should ask Pakistan for permission. … And even some in my own party, including my current vice president, had the same critique as you did.”
5/ There’s one problem with Biden’s claim though: virtually every other account from Obama Administration officials contradicts
Including Barack Obama, who in 2012, said Biden had “the same critique” of the raid as Mitt Romney did pic.twitter.com/37vDBKHyOr
— Zach Parkinson (@AZachParkinson) January 3, 2020
