Washington (CNN) – Several senior administration officials tell CNN UN Ambassador Susan Rice's use of the word "spontaneous" on Sunday talk shows five days after the Libya incident came directly from an assessment provided to the House intelligence community by the CIA, which was not edited by the White House.
The officials maintain the criticism is a result of a poor word choice rather than a true difference in representing what was known about the attack at the time. Several officials say instead of calling it "spontaneous" - it might have been better phrased as: the attack had not been long planned; or there were no signs of an upcoming attack on September 11th.
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Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) - President Barack Obama added the words "al Qaeda" back in to his stump speech Thursday after a shift in the language he used to describe terrorists on the campaign trail.
"I made some commitments four years ago. I told you I would end the war in Iraq and we did it. I said we'd end the war in Afghanistan, we are. I said we'd refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11 and we have. And today a new tower rises above the new York skyline and al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead," Obama said at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. A city official estimated 6,000 people attended the event at a park in the city's downtown.
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Louisville, Kentucky (CNN) - Aides to President Barack Obama on Friday attempted to clean up comments made by Vice President Joe Biden regarding security requests in Libya during Thursday night's vice presidential debate.
When asked about the security of U.S. diplomats in Libya prior to the attack in Benghazi, Biden said "We weren't told they wanted more security there. We did not know they wanted more security again."
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Danville, Kentucky (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden's primary goal in Thursday's debate is to make the president's case on the economy and tie Mitt Romney to the Ryan budget, according to multiple Democratic sources.
Top Democrats said it's important to remind viewers that Rep. Paul Ryan is "the intellectual leader of the House Republicans," especially given polling that shows members of Congress from both parties are not especially popular.
Tune to CNN for Thursday's vice presidential debate coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET on CNN TV, CNN.com and via CNN's apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Web users can become video editors with a new clip-and-share feature that allows them to share favorite debate moments on Facebook and Twitter.
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Danville, Kentucky (CNN) - Senior Democrats are predicting a scrappy competitive debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan when they meet onstage in Kentucky Thursday. But both men are collegial people so don't expect a fight club atmosphere.
With polls tightening and new pressure to energize Democrats after last week's presidential debate, Biden has been off the campaign trail for six days hunkered down in debate prep since the weekend.
Tune to CNN for Thursday's vice presidential debate coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET on CNN TV, CNN.com and via CNN's apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. Web users can become video editors with a new clip-and-share feature that allows them to share favorite debate moments on Facebook and Twitter.
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Washington (CNN) – Vice President Joe Biden is currently in Wilmington, Delaware prepping for the vice presidential debate Thursday. However, the Obama campaign does not expect Biden, a former senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to make up for the president's showing in the first presidential debate, according to multiple Democratic sources.
While Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod is on hand in Delaware, sources told CNN his presence is not a reaction to the president's weak showing at the Denver debate and that Axelrod was previously scheduled to attend. The vice president's preparations are being run by his former chief of staff Ron Klain, who is in charge of the president's prep as well.
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Editor's note: Jessica Yellin is CNN's chief White House correspondent, based in the network's Washington bureau. She was named to the position in June 2011. Yellin contributes to CNN's America's Choice 2012 election coverage, reporting on President Barack Obama's administration and his re-election campaign.
Denver (CNN) - President Barack Obama turned in a less-than-stellar performance Wednesday night in his first debate this election season. On Thursday, his campaign aides said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came armed with distortions. But if the president believed that, he barely brought them to the viewers' attention during the debate. Instead, he turned in a distracted, passionless performance.
Here are five reasons he fumbled:
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Washington (CNN) – The use of armed drones, or unmanned aircraft, to target and kill suspected terrorists has increased dramatically during the Obama administration but President Barack Obama said he struggles with the use of armed drones to target terrorists.
"That's something that you have to struggle with," the president said in a CNN interview at the White House conducted for the documentary "Obama Revealed: The man, The President" by this reporter. He continued, "if you don't, then it's very easy to slip into a situation in which you end up bending rules thinking that the ends always justify the means. That's not been our tradition. That's not who we are as a country."
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Iowa City, Iowa (CNN) – President Barack Obama viewed the latest jobs numbers Thursday night, before the figures were made available to the public, a White House official told CNN.
But the official would not say if Obama saw them before or after his Thursday night acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
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Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) – In his address Thursday at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Joe Biden will vouch for President Barack Obama's character and leadership through anecdotes about his decisions in office, according to a Democratic source.
As someone by the president's side for his major decisions in office, Biden will draw contrasts between Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the source said.
MORE: Biden's full remarks, as prepared for delivery
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