Biden changes his story on Bin Laden raid — again

Will press get tough on Biden?

News conferences calmer in tone

President-elect Joe Biden came under fire earlier this year for denying his opposition to the 2011 raid that killed Usama bin Laden after previously claiming that he advised then-President Obama against it. 

But a new documentary appears to show Biden contradicting his original story again, with the former vice president claiming that while he suggested doing "one more pass" over the compound, he urged Obama to move forward with the raid and trust his instincts.

"When it came time to go or not go, the president went around the room. I think there were 17 people around the table … and [he] said, 'what do you think we should do?'' Biden said in CNN's new documentary, "President in Waiting," that aired on Saturday. 

"Two said go, and one said don't go, and I'm the last person in the room. And again, this is a place where I gotta reserve space for the president," he said.

Biden explained that "there was one option remaining," which called for one final flyover of bin Laden's compound in Pakistan to ensure the target was secure. 

"I said, 'Mr. President, I think you should wait, and do one more pass,' knowing that if you made a lower pass, they might observe it and he'd flee," Biden said. 

But despite his initial hesitation, Biden said he ultimately urged Obama in a private Oval Office conversation to give the green light and "follow your instincts on this one.''  

The president-elect's account contradicts his original remarks from eight years ago, when he claimed during a retreat in Maryland for congressional Democrats that he encouraged Obama to hold off on the raid.

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"My suggestion is, don't go," Biden said at the time. "We have to do two more things to see if he's there."

Obama in his new memoir, A Promised Land, wrote that Biden had "weighed in against the raid" – despite Biden telling Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy months earlier that he "didn't" tell President Obama "not to go after bin Laden that day."

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