- "It took the president 14 days" to describe Benghazi attack as a terror act, Romney says
- "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation," Obama says a day after attack
- Obama reiterates the stance a day later at another event
(CNN) -- President Barack Obama said he identified the September 11 assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya as a terrorist attack within a day; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said it took two weeks.
The claim: "The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people in the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened," Obama said. "That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're going to hunt down those who committed this crime."
The counterclaim: "It took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror," Romney responded moments later.
The facts: On September 12, the day after the attack that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Obama said in comments in the Rose Garden that he had learned about the attack on the consulate the night before.
"Our country is only as strong as the character of our people and the service of those both civilian and military who represent us around the globe," he said. "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America. We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done."
On September 13, at a campaign event in Las Vegas, Obama vowed to bring the killers to justice. He then added, "No act of terror will dim the light of the values that we proudly shine on the rest of the world, and no act of violence will shake the resolve of the United States of America."
On September 25, on ABC's "The View," interviewer Joy Behar asked Obama about a remark made by his secretary of state. "I heard Hillary Clinton say it was an act of terrorism. Is it? What do you say?"
To that, Obama responded, "We're still doing an investigation. There's no doubt that (with) the kind of weapons that were used, the ongoing assault, that it wasn't just a mob action. We don't have all the information yet, so we're still gathering it. But what's clear is that around the world there's still a lot of threats out there." Obama added that "extremist militias" were suspected to have been involved.
Two days later, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded bluntly to a question about why Obama had not labeled the incident a terrorist attack.
"I think you're misunderstanding something here," Carney said. "I'm the president's spokesman. When the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, in open testimony in Congress, answered a question by saying yes, by the definitions we go by -- this is me paraphrasing -- this was a terrorist attack -- I echoed that, because this president, this administration, everybody looks to the intelligence community for the assessments on this. And it has been since I said so, the president's position that this was a terrorist attack."
The conclusion: Romney's comment was false. Obama did describe the killings in Benghazi as an act of terror twice within two days, though -- in an interview two weeks after the attack -- he appeared to reserve judgment. Two days later, his spokesman clarified his position.
