John McCain Gets Angry Over Questions About Missed Benghazi Briefing

The Huffington Post | By Sabrina Siddiqui
Posted: 11/15/2012 3:16 pm EST Updated: 11/15/2012 4:40 pm EST

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was less than willing to entertain questions Thursday on why he held a press conference Wednesday to complain about lack of information on the September attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, while simultaneously skipping a nearly two-hour classified briefing with administration officials about the investigation.

CNN’s Dana Bash reported on air that McCain, when questioned by a producer on the subject on Capitol Hill, not only refused to answer, but grew “very angry":

I have to tell you something that just happened on Capitol Hill, and that is our Senate producer Ted Barrett just ran into John McCain and asked about something that we're hearing from Democrats, which is John McCain is calling for more information to Congress, but he had a press conference yesterday instead of going to a closed briefing where administration officials were giving more information. Well, Ted Barrett asked John McCain about that, and it was apparently an intense, very angry exchange and McCain simply would not comment on it at all.

McCain has been one of the sharpest critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens. Along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the Arizona senator spent much of Wednesday renewing calls for a special committee to investigate the attack and, in the process, missed a Benghazi briefing in which administration officials offered additional details to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which McCain is a member.

(More here.)