Congressman Grimm is not pleased. (Photo: Facebook)

As President Barack Obama's opponents pile on in the aftermath of multiple recent controversies--notably his reaction to the Benghazi attacks, revelations that the Internal Revenue Service focused on conservative-aligned nonprofits and the Justice Department's unprecedented snooping on press communications--one local congressman wants it to be known that he is also not pleased.

To wit, Republican Rep. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, released a lengthy statement this afternoon blasting Mr. Obama for "bringing Chicago-style politics to the White House." This style of underhanded rule, Mr. Grimm said, has resulted in a presidency that is “the most secretive, deceptive, and divisive we’ve seen in modern times."

For its part, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has said the administration had no knowledge of the Justice Department's secret efforts to obtain Associated Press reporters' and editors' telephone records, which the news agency slammed as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion."

Regarding the IRS subjecting conservative groups to additional scrutiny, Mr. Obama himself said Monday that he "will not tolerate it." But on questions as to whether his administration politicized its response to the September 11th, 2012 attacks on America's embassy in Benghazi, Libya, Mr. Obama insisted, “There's no 'there' there."

None of that was enough to persuade, Mr. Grimm, of course, whose entire statement ripping into the president can be viewed below:

“President Obama’s legacy is going to be one tarnished by scandal after scandal. This president had an opportunity to unite our country and move it forward better and stronger. Instead, he brought Chicago-style politics to the White House and divided us as a nation.

“Today this president continues to blame Republicans for politicizing Benghazi, when it is his very own administration that covered up the facts. He was slow to react to the IRS targeting conservative Tea Party groups, and today he denies knowledge of the Justice Department seizing the phone records of AP reporters.

“The president claims to be in the dark on one event after another. What are they doing over there? Who’s accountable if it’s not the commander in chief?

“Instead of a legacy of ‘hope and change,’ President Obama will be known for bringing Chicago-style politics to the White House. The most ‘transparent administration in history’ is actually the most secretive, deceptive, and divisive we’ve seen in modern times. This administration has misled the American people one too many times, and it’s time it is held accountable.”

(Photo: Getty)

For a good portion of the day, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been testifying before Congress about federal government's response to the September 11th attacks against the American diplomatic mission in Libya, but that doesn't mean presidential politics have completely left the room.

Indeed, in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this afternoon, Ms. Clinton faced at least two questioners dropping not-so-subtle suggestions regarding her hypothetical campaign for the White House in 2016. Notably, Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch, who represents the Miami suburbs, expressed hope he'll be seeing Ms. Clinton politicking in his swing state in the future.

"Secretary of Clinton, first I'd like to thank you for the truly remarkable job that you've done as Secretary of State,"  Mr. Deutch began. "You have represented the interests of this nation magnificently. I for one hope that, after a bit of rest, you will consider a return to public service. Should that return take you to Florida, I will look forward to welcoming you there."

It was not only Democrats noting Ms. Clinton's possible presidential campaign, however. Rep. Steve Chabot, a Republican hailing from Ohio, placed himself in a similar situation.

"Madam Secretary, first let me thank you for your service. I wish you the best in your future endeavors," he said, pausing before delivering his punchline. "Mostly."

Ms. Clinton heartily laughed at Mr. Chabot's remark but otherwise didn't address the speculation.

Robert Gibbs (Photo: Wikipedia)

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- The Obama administration has been criticized for offering evolving, confusing explanations for the cause of last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. However, current senior Obama campaign advisor and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs thinks his successor in the press office handled the situation well. 

Politicker spotted Mr. Gibbs walking through the press filing room at tonight's presidential debate. We asked him for his take on White House Press Secretary Jay Carney's handling of the Libya attack.

"I think the press secretary's handled it well because he's told people what we know when we knew it," Mr. Gibbs said.

We wanted to ask Mr. Gibbs more about his thoughts on the White House's public statements after the incident, but he walked behind a curtain and an aide told the reporters who were accompanying him that we weren't permitted to follow.

"Guys, you can't come back here," she said.

Rudy Giuliani speaking. (Photo: YouTube)

You can officially count former Mayor Rudy Giuliuani among President Barack Obama's critics over his controversial handling of last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At a fundraiser for GOP congressional hopeful Dan Halloran earlier this week, Mr. Giuliani simply unloaded on the Obama administration's “cover-up" of the incident's terrorist roots, which he described as a "bunch of lies" based on Mr. Obama's political calculations and "fantasy world" delusions.

"This was a 'terrorist attack,'" Mr. Giuliani said. "The president has hard time saying those words. He has a hard time saying those words because he lives in a fantasy world. The fantasy world he lives in is that Islamic extremist terrorism, even if it exists, shouldn't be acknowledged. We pretend they're not at war with us; we're certainly not at war with them."

The former mayor--whose 2008 presidential campaign was largely based on his national security expertise--argued Mr. Obama's "fantasy" mindset trickled down through the State Department leading them to deny requests for additional security at the Consulate in Libya.

"If the President of the United States keeps putting his head in the sand about this, then all the people who work for the President of the United States tend to put their head in the sand," he continued. "And that's why, I believe, all these requests for additional security were not granted. Because it would give the impression that maybe Libya was not this wonderful place that President Obama would like us to think it is....It defies his narrative."

Mr. Giuliani also credited the congressional Republican majority elected in 2010 with bringing the issues of security at the diplomatic post and potential terrorist ties to the incident to light. The House Oversight for Government Reform Committee, which is chaired by Republican California Congressman Darrell Issa, is currently conducting an investigation into the attack.

"If it wasn't for the victory we had two years ago, this entire situation in Libya, which the administration wants to cover-up, the requests for more security, the denial of more security, calling it a 'spontaneous incident' where almost from the first minute it was described as an Islamist, extremist, terrorist attack by an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group, that entire-cover up would be covered up," Mr. Giuliani said. "Because there'd be no Republican Congress to hold the hearings they're going to hold tomorrow to lay out this picture."

Democrats have blasted Mr. Issa's investigation of the Libya attack as "extremely partisan."

Despite the seriousness of the topic of hand, Mr. Giuliani also got in a couple quips and some jokes. For example, he declared, "This was for President Obama, I believe, a teaching moment. Because next year, I believe, he'll be teaching."

"They just succeeded in killing an ambassador in the first time since the Carter administration," he said at another point. "If I were President of the United States, and was compared to President Carter, I'd resign."

Watch Mr. Giuliani's remarks below:

(Photo: Getty)

Earlier today, State Department officials testifying before a congressional hearing investigating the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month admitted they felt there was a terrorist threat in the region. While making the media rounds tonight ahead of the vice presidential debate Mitch McConnell, the leader of the U.S. Senate Republicans, said this new information creates the "suspicion" that the White House's initial attempts to tie the attack  to a video mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad rather than terrorism may have been a dishonest and politically-motivated coverup.

"Well, we're finally getting the right story from the professionals down at the State Department who've been saying, apparently from the beginning, that it's a terrorist attack," Mr. McConnell said. "I don't know where this notion that this thing was video-inspired came from in the first place. It leaves you with the suspicion that, since the president was in the campaign, going around, reminding everybody that bin Laden was gone and that we're out of Iraq and we'd soon be out of Afghanistan, and implying that the War on Terror was over, the campaign just felt it was inconvenient that we had a terrorist attack that had killed four Americans, as I say, inconveniently within a month of the election."

Mr. McConnell went on to say he found the Obama Administration's initial response to the attacks "disturbing" and that there was "no evidence" the video played a role in the attack. He also added that he hoped Mitt Romney would raise the issue on the campaign trail.

"It's quite disturbing. I mean, there's no evidence that the video was the cause of this terrorist attack, all the evidence is that this was a terrorist attack and the professionals in the State Department felt that from the beginning," said Mr. McConnell. "So I think it was quite disturbing and it should be an issue in the campaign."

At least one family member of one of the four Americans killed in the attack has also accused the Obama administration of misleading them about the cause of the incident for political reasons. On Wednesday Sean Smith, whose son, Pat, died in the attack appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and said she feels she has been ignored and mislead by multiple high-level Obama administration officials.

"I told them please tell me what happened, just tell me what happened," Ms. Smith said. "I tell them, please, don't give me any baloney that comes through with this political stuff. I don't want political stuff, you can keep your political. Just tell me the truth--what happened? And I still don't know."

The Obama administration has also come under fire due to information that has come to light showing the State Department rejected requests for additional security at the diplomatic post in Benghazi prior to the attack.

Mitt Romney. (Photo: Getty)

In multiple recent appearances, Mitt Romney has been discussing his personal tie to Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL who was killed in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month.He brought up the story again at a rally in Ohio this afternoon in spite of the fact the man's mother gave an interview to WHDH TV in Boston in which she expressed her wish that Mr. Romney stop discussing her son on the campaign trail.

"I don't trust Romney. He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama,” Barbara Doherty said of Mr. Romney's speeches mentioning her son.

Mr. Romney met Mr. Doherty at a Christmas party in Southern California in either 2009 or 2010, the candidate has said he can't remember the exact year. Soon after the attack in Libya, Mr. Romney said he realized one of the ex-Navy SEALs who died while providing security at the consulate was the same man he met at the party.

"You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALs killed in Benghazi on Sept. 11," Mr. Romney said at a recent rally in Iowa. "It touched me obviously as I recognized this young man that I thought was so impressive had lost his life in his service of his fellow men and women."

In addition to today's event in Ohio and the rally in Iowa, Mr. Romney has previously brought up his connection to Mr. Doherty at campaign stops in Florida and Virginia. The story is a personal way for Mr. Romney to touch on the incident in Libya and the Obama administration has drawn criticism for their handling of the attacks from the Romney campaign and other conservatives.

Politicker reached out to the Romney campaign after today's event in Ohio to ask whether Mr. Romney was aware of Ms. Doherty's wishes prior to his speech today and if he plans to continue telling the story in light of her concerns. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Update (2:29 p.m.): The Romney campaign responded to our inquiries and said it will "respect the wishes of Mrs. Doherty" and remove any mentions of her son from future speeches. 

Former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor in the new Special Ops OPSEC ad. (Photo: YouTube)

Special Ops OPSEC, one of the anti-Obama political action committees formed by ex-Navy SEALs that have been attacking President Barack Obama for inappropriately politicizing the killing of Osama bin Laden has released a new ad slamming the White House's response to the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya last month. The Obama administration has faced harsh criticism for allegedly ignoring security warnings ahead of the attacks and offering confusing, evolving explanations for the incident, which left four people dead including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and two former Navy SEALs who were working as security contractors protecting diplomatic personnel. The ad specifically targets comments the president made referring to the Benghazi attack and other recent unrest in the Middle East as "bumps in the road."

"President Obama wanted credit after our military killed Bin Laden. Highly classified secrets were leaked endangering real heroes and their families, but when terrorists kill SEALs and diplomats in Libya, this administration doesn't tell the truth about what happened and the president says it's just a bump in the road," OPSEC president and former SEAL Scott Taylor says in the ad. "There is nothing acceptable about playing politics with national security and American lives. Aren't some things more important than politics?"

According to an email sent out by Special Ops OPSEC, the ad will start airing in Virginia today. The group is seeking contributions to help put it on the air in other swing states.

"We need your help to keep it on the air expand it to other critical 2012 battleground states," Mr. Taylor wrote in the email message.

Watch the Special Ops OPSEC ad, which is entitled "Bump in the Road," below.