WASHINGTON, D.C.–South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham was exercised over President Obama’s explanation Tuesday for trading five Taliban detainees for Bowe Bergdahl.
During a press conference in Warsaw, Poland Tuesday Obama argued that America “has always had a pretty sacred rule and that is we don’t leave our men or women in uniform behind.”
Tuesday afternoon when asked about the president’s comments in Warsaw, Graham said Obama’s words are hollow, given his failure to act during the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya, dead.
“It really bothers me when he embraces a military concept called ‘we don’t leave our people behind’ and he won’t tell us what he did in Benghazi,” Graham told reporters. “You’re the commander-in-chief. You won’t tell me what you did on the night of the attack on Benghazi when people needed your leadership, you never picked up the phone to call anybody in Libya. So these are hollow words to me.”
According to Graham, Obama is simply using a military tradition to justify his actions.
“To me, he’s just trying to justify his decision based on a time honored military tradition,” the South Carolinian said. “It just really doesn’t sit well with me.”
Graham was not the only lawmaker to harken back to Obama administration missteps surrounding the attack in Benghazi — McCain, treaded in that direction but in a more light hearted manner, pointing out that Bergdahl’s service record matters insofar as it appears National Security Advisor Susan publicly mischaracterized it over the weekend.
“I think it matters when the President’s National Security Advisor says he had a distinguished and honorable career,” McCain said.
“You know, if I were her, I think if I had perhaps a resolution is maybe stay off the Sunday talk shows,” he said. “I mean the last time she was on, our consulate in Benghazi was safe and secure and Al Qaeda is decimated.”
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