Rep. Van Hollen: Romney exploitation of Libya a “real violation of tradition”

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) says that President Obama and his team communicated information about the attack on the US consulate in Libya when they had it, adding that Mitt Romney’s team is trying to build a conspiracy theory around a cover up by the administration. He adds that his father was a career foreign service officer, like Ambassador Chris Stevens, and when tragedy struck, the tradition was for everyone to unite.

Rep. Van Hollen says, “Well there’s no doubt we should get to the bottom of the intelligence information, but what this clearly shows is that the President and Susan Rice and others were presenting the American people with the facts as they were provided to them by the intelligence agencies. Which really makes Mitt Romney and his team look pretty small for the way they tried to exploit this whole thing for political purposes, drumming up these kind of conspiracy theories.”

Earlier in the interview, Rep. Van Hollen talks latest election polls and newspaper endorsements.

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9a ET on CNN.