O’Brien Questions Chaffetz On Vote To Cut Embassy Security Funding: ‘Absolutely,’ ‘We Have Priorities’
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by Alex Alvarez | 10:10 am, October 10th, 2012
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz appeared on Wednesday’s Starting Point, where he was asked by host Soledad O’Brien about the official timeline of events the day the American consulate in Benghazi was attacked.
“Is it true that you voted to cut the funding for embassy security?” O’Brien asked him.
“Absolutely,” said Chaffetz. “Look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have… 15,0000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractor, a private army there for President Obama in Baghdad. And we’re talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces? When you’re in touch economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things.”
“Okay, so you’re prioritizing,” she replied. “So, when there are complaints that, in fact, that there was not enough security, you just said, ‘absolutely,’ that you cut, you were the one to vote against to increase security for the State Department, which would lead directly to Benghazi. That seems like you’re saying you have a hand in the responsibility to this. The funding of the security? How am I wrong?”
“No,” Chaffetz replied, explaining that “you [have to] prioritize things.”
“And what clearly didn’t happen is Libya was not a priority,” he added. “I believe what I heard is that it’s because they wanted the appearance of normalization. That’s what they wanted. And that fit with Obama narrative moving forward.”
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