Former New York City mayor and erstwhile presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney should have been more aggressive on making the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, an issue during the campaign.
“If he had made Benghazi a bigger issue, I think we could have had a better chance,” Mr. Giuliani said on “Fox and Friends.” “He backed off in the debate, and he shouldn’t have — and I think he was advised to, because he had made one mistake about Benghazi that Candy Crowley was wrong about; I think he got shy about it.”
In a major moment during the presidential debates in 2012, Mr. Romney argued President Obama had been slow in recognizing the attack as terrorism.
Then-CNN anchor Candy Crowley, who was moderating the debate, said Mr. Obama did call it an “act of terror,” in a Rose Garden speech immediately after the attack.
“So he’s going to have to convince his supporters that he can be a very different kind of candidate,” Mr. Giuliani said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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