While some lawmakers have questions about what happened before or after the 2012 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Rep. Tom Cotton said he wants to know what President Barack Obama was doing during the attack.
"As a former soldier myself, I particularly want to know what happened during the attacks. Why didn't the president send reinforcements from Tripoli, or from our fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, or even from Italy?" the Arkansas Republican said Monday on "Fox & Friends."
While conceding that support forces "might not have reached Benghazi in time," Cotton said, "You just don't know how long a firefight is going to last whenever you're sending reinforcements to begin with."
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Cotton took his concerns about Benghazi to the floor of the House on May 8, criticizing the president for neither sending a "quick reaction force" nor being in the White House situation room "to supervise the execution of his orders."
"He needs to be there asking questions about where those assets are, and are they en route and getting updates — not just worried about political campaign issues or sitting in the residence," he said Monday.
Cotton said the military "has been very forthcoming" in the House investigations since the attack, while the administration has not.
"The military and the Pentagon have answered all the questions of congressional committees and produced documents. It's the State Department and the White House that have continued to stonewall," he said.
Cotton, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in a neck-and-neck race for the Arkansas' Senate seat currently held by Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor.
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