On Libya attacks: Barack Obama accused rival Mitt Romney of playing politics with national security as the pair clashed over last month's attack on US mission in Benghazi, Libya. "While we were still dealing with our diplomats being threatened, Governor Romney put out a press release," Obama said, referring to the Republican's criticisms on the night of the attack, which left four Americans dead. "Trying to make political points, and that's not how a commander in chief operates. You don't turn national security into a political issue, certainly not right when it's happening," he said during an angry exchange.

Romney hit back strongly, accusing Obama of going on a fundraising tour on the day after the deadly September 11 assault on the Benghazi consulate, and declaring that Obama's Middle East policy was "unravelling before our very eyes."

Obama also said that the responsibility for what happened at the US consulate in Benghazi, falls to him and to no one else.