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“Well, we did,” said Biden, who served as vice president to Obama. “The guy’s name was Osama bin Laden.”
Doocy responded, “Didn’t you tell President Obama not to go after bin Laden that day?”
To which Biden responded: “No, I didn’t. I didn’t.”
Biden’s description of his advice to Obama changed between 2012 and 2015; two of his accounts were contradictory. He said in 2012 that he had advised Obama “don’t go” with the raid before obtaining more information. He then said in 2015 that he had not uttered this “don’t go” opinion.
Former top officials in the Obama administration have written in their memoirs that Biden was “against the operation,” that he was “firmly in favor of waiting for more information,” and that he was concerned about the risks of a raid.
What Biden said initially
Biden’s apparent purpose in telling the story was to vouch for Obama’s “backbone” in authorizing the May 2011 raid over the uncertainty of advisers, most of whom Biden said gave tentative answers when Obama went around the table asking for their opinions.
“(When he) got to me, he said, ‘Joe, what do you think?’ And I said, ‘You know, I didn’t know we had so many economists around the table.’ I said, ‘We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is don’t go. We have to do two more things to see if he’s there,'” Biden said.
Biden did not specify what the “two more things” were.
What Biden said later
While not denying host David Gregory’s assertion that Biden had advised Obama “don’t do it, don’t do it now,” Biden said he had an additional conversation with Obama as they walked privately together after the meeting — during which he said he told Obama, “Follow your instincts, Mr. President. Your instincts have been close to unerring. Follow your instincts.” He added, “I wanted him to take one more day to do one more test to see if he [bin Laden] was there.”
In other words: Biden said in 2012 that he had believed he owed Obama a firm opinion at the group meeting, and had said “don’t go” in that setting. Biden said in 2015 that “it would have been a mistake” to offer a firm opinion at the group meeting, so he had never said either “don’t go” or “go” in that setting — but, instead, had privately advised Obama to “go.”
What others have said
That does not itself contradict Biden’s claim that he expressed support, or something less than opposition, in a one-on-one conversation with Obama. But it does at least raise questions.
CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, author of the book Manhunt about the search for bin Laden, interviewed many of the attendees of the April 2011 meeting in the months after the raid. Bergen reported that Biden expressed concerns at the meeting about the possible Pakistani reaction to a raid in their country, arguing that they needed to become more sure bin Laden was present before risking a major breach in a critical bilateral relationship.
Bergen said in an email on Saturday: “Now is it possible that Biden spoke to Obama privately later and told him something different? Sure. But it’s striking to me, that as far as I know, Obama has never come forward to say that Biden advised him to carry out the raid.”
On Saturday, a Biden campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Biden was never opposed to a raid but just thought more certainty was needed about bin Laden’s presence before proceeding at that moment.
“At the outset, the Vice President advised that we first obtain additional confirmation that Bin Laden was indeed at the compound — but he did not say that the operation shouldn’t ultimately go forward. Later, in a one-on-one setting, the VP urged President Obama to ‘follow [his] instincts,” the official said.
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