LIMA (AFP) ― Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN on Monday that she will take the blame for any shortcomings in the handling of an attack last month on the U.S. mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

“I take responsibility,” she said, according to the news network, which interviewed her during a visit to the Peruvian capital Lima.

According to the CNN website, she added that with the U.S. presidential election drawing near, “I want to avoid some kind of political gotcha.”

President Barack Obama has come under fire from his critics over the attack, which left four Americans dead, and Clinton’s move will be seen as an attempt to take the heat off him three weeks before he bids for re-election.

On Sept. 11, heavily-armed militants stormed the consulate compound in Benghazi and attacked an annex housing U.S. personnel, killing the four Americans including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

In the immediate aftermath of the deaths, U.S. administration officials said that it appeared to be linked to protests in the Muslim world against a film shot by U.S.-based activists deemed insulting to the Islamic faith.