Vice President Joseph R. Biden now says he fully supported the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, contradicting past statements and leaving the White House in an uncomfortable position Tuesday.
Mr. Biden made the comments at a forum in honor of former Vice President Walter Mondale and said that he told President Obama during private conversation that he should go ahead with the raid.
“As we walked out of the room and we walked upstairs, I told him my opinion that I thought he should go but to follow his own instincts,” he said, adding that he only offered that opinion during a one-on-one moment with the president.
Mr. Biden previously has suggested he opposed the raid, and other officials — including former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton — have discussed the vice president’s skepticism of the mission.
Thus far, the White House has refused to clear up the confusion.
“I was not in the room when these decisions were being made. … I’m going to leave the dissection and the oral history, if you will, of those days to those who were actually there,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “I don’t have any insights to share with you about the private conversations between the president and the vice president.”
Mr. Biden reportedly will decide this week whether he’ll run for president in 2016.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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