Soledad O'Brien and Mayor Rudy Giuliani had a very heated exchange over President Obama's response to Libya on Monday's "Starting Point."
O'Brien replayed a clip of Matthew Dowd, a former member of George W. Bush's administration, defending the White House against criticism that it doesn't have the answers about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. He said that it took far longer than two weeks to get to the truth about weapons of mass destruction.
O'Brien asked Giuliani if Dowd had a point. "So we're gonna blame this on Bush too?" Giuliani said.
"You gotta stop putting words in my mouth, sir," O'Brien interjected. After some back-and-forth, she continued, "Every time I ask you a question, you like to push back as if somehow the question being posed to you is unfair. It's not. I'm a journalist, you said some things. I'm trying to get some accurate responses from you. You are welcome to answer."
Giuliani said that Dowd's response seemed like an attempt to blame Bush for the Benghazi attack. He also argued that Obama should have disclosed any knowledge about previous attacks on the consulate and how the U.S. reacted.
"That's not what Matthew Dowd is saying," O'Brien objected.
"But it doesn't take a long time for the president of the United States to tell us whether or not he was aware that this consulate was attacked twice before and if he was aware what did he do to protect the consulate?" Giuliani countered.
"But the point and my question is, does Matthew Dowd have a point?" she said.
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