The White House says it's just one piece of the story.

Spokesman Jay Carney is talking about a State Department email that was sent to intelligence officials and the White House situation room -- two hours after the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, came under attack last month. The attack killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

The email said an Islamist militant group had claimed responsibility for the attack on Facebook and Twitter, while also calling for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

The Obama administration's account of what led to the attack has become a campaign issue. Republicans say the White House has misled Americans about whether it was a terrorist attack. Five days after it occurred, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. was saying that it appeared to be the result of a protest over an anti-Islamic video.

The president's spokesman says there were "emails about all sorts of information" in the aftermath of the attack.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton makes the same point, and adds that a posting on Facebook isn't evidence of responsibility for the attack.