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Subscribe to RSSUN ambassador Susan Rice, widely considered the President's top choice to replace Hillary Clinton, was grilled by the Senate Tuesday. She acknowledged she had been wrong to say Benghazi was a copycat attack and continued to blame the CIA for providing her with that information. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
UPDATED 12:35 p.m. ET -- Republican senators emerged from their meeting Tuesday with United Nations envoy Susan Rice saying they were more disturbed than before the meeting about the misleading explanation she gave after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, when Rice said in TV interviews that the violence was due to an anti-Islamic video that was circulated on YouTube.
Rice, a potential nominee to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, met with Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte. The three senators have been among the harshest critics of the administration's handling of Benghazi and all spoke with reporters following Tuesday's meeting.
“It is clear that the information she gave the American people was incorrect when she said that it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case,” said McCain.
In the Sept. 11 assault on the consulate, Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith, were killed.
Graham said, “Bottom line: I’m more disturbed now than I was before that the 16th (of) September explanation of how four Americans died in Benghazi, Libya by Ambassador Rice I think does not do justice to the reality at the time and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong.”
Graham suggested that Rice should have simply not made any statement on the Sept. 16 Sunday TV talk shows. “If you don’t know what happened, just say you don’t know what happened,” Graham said. “If you can do nothing but give bad information, isn’t it better to give no information at all?”
Bebeto Matthews / AP
United States Ambassador Susan Rice speaks during a meeting on Syria in the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012.
He added, “Before anybody can make an intelligent decision about promoting someone involved in Benghazi, we need to do a lot more (investigating). To this date we don’t have the FBI interviews of the survivor one or two days after the attack. ”
He invoked the example of President Bush’s nominee to be UN ambassador, John Bolton, who was blocked by Senate Democrats and a few Republicans in 2005 and 2006, implying that if Rice were nominated to the secretary of state Republicans would likewise block her confirmation.
Ayotte, too, said she was “more troubled” after meeting with Rice and Acting CIA Director Mike Morrell than she was before the meeting.
She questioned why Rice would have relied on unclassified CIA talking points in her TV interviews on Sept. 16.
“When you’re ambassador to the United Nations you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparation responsibilities for that job and that’s troubling to me as well,” Ayotte said.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice recaps the causes and effects of recent violence against Americans in the Middle East.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Rice said that she and Morrell had explained to the senators in the meeting Tuesday that "the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. While, we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the Administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the Administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved."
Last week Graham sent Obama a letter saying, “We have now learned that the talking points provided to Ambassador Susan Rice on or around September 15 describing the assault on our consulate in Benghazi were disconnected from the actual intelligence. According to numerous sources, including CIA Director David Petraeus and the CIA station chief on the ground in Libya, the perpetrators of the attack were identified to be al Qaeda-linked militia almost immediately.”
Graham told Obama that by the time Rice spoke on five Sunday TV talk shows on Sept. 16, “the classified intelligence clearly refuted the scenario she described.”
He asked Obama to explain why Rice was chosen to explain the attack to the American people. “Why wasn’t someone with firsthand knowledge of the attack on our Consulate, or firsthand knowledge of the administration’s response during the critical hours our consulate was under attack, selected for this opportunity?”
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who is in line to become the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress that convenes in January, said Tuesday he sees Rice as a party loyalist.
"When I hear Susan (Rice) talk, she sounds to me like she'd be a great head of the Democratic National Committee,” Corker told reporters at the Capitol. “There's nobody who's more staff supportive of everything the administration does. That concerns me in a Secretary of State. You want a Secretary of State who obviously works with the administration but also shows the ability to be independent, and I'm not sure I see that second part.”
The Senate has not voted to reject a nominee for a Cabinet position since 1989 when it voted down President George H.W. Bush’s nomination of John Tower to be secretary of Defense. Unlike that case, the Senate is now controlled by the president’s own party.
NBC News’s Frank Thorp contributed to this report.
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Like Colin Powell telling us about the weapons of mass destruction, Susan Rice should not be blamed for telling us about Bengazi.
Senile John McCain should retire. He's been in DC waaaayyy too long. (like a lot of others)
Great case for proving term limits are in order.
Leo - I think we should lobby for term limits for Congressmen/women. So many have been there too long.
Summertime; I guess you are referring to Sen. Reid???
Colin Powell isn't up for nomination as Secretary of State.
you are right she should not be blamed... OBAMA should be blamed!! for a change.....
The truth at last, Obamam should take credit for Benghazi, he owns it all when he said the bucks stops with him.
If anyone thinks the President has any say about what goes on about this, they are misled. Lets look past the rhetoric and at the facts. The CIA knew hours after why and how this clearly orchestrated attack on us happened. They apparently made the decision to tell forces not to assist in the conflict, but to relieve the Marines instead. Who made this decision? Who gave this order? When did the president know about it? These are not hard questions to answer unless someone is trying to cover something up. Does anyone honestly think any rational person would appoint a SOS to a person who helped Osama Bin Laden escape from Sudan in 1996? Or he would appoint someone to the Supreme Court who wrote her senior thesis on Socialism in New York City? Well, he did. Our last true president was JFK. He fought for the citizens not only to be protected by the government not coddled and controlled. He fought for liberty and truth in the White House and look what happened to him.
McCain and Graham clearly don't have the clout to attack the president, so they go after Susan Rice. President Obama told them to blame him, but after the Republican defeat earlier this month, they don't seem too eager to engage him directly. Kind of cowardly........
since they had to get McCain up out of a coffin,they met in a cemetery right?
The GOP will pick on anything to kick up a stink. They're sore losers, prejudiced against minorities and women, and think they know it all. They are only interested in what lines their pockets and gives them power over the rest of us.
Summertime--giving Obama and Susan Rice the green light to lie about extremely important issues has nothing to do with the GOP being sore losers. The GOP is all about accountability and getting answers for the American people. I am a Republican and I can tell you that we are far from being prejudice against any class of citizen--matter of fact we give 2 to 1 to charities over the Democrats. We are also 3 to 1 more likely to be church going people (that happen to provide a tremendous amount of outreach to the communities) and are much more likely to stand for our constitutional rights. This administration needs to explain why they did what they did. If Rice is another puppet of Obama's and will lie for him, she shouldn't hired for the job.
everyone ''lies'' how naive can u be?
Lie is YOUR interpretation of the situation. The Intelligence branch made an assessment of what information to declassify for release to the public, which is their job. To call it a LIE only speaks to your partisan view of this incident. Was it a lie when President Bush's ambassador Condi Rice told the world that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction and that turned out to be false?
Is that right! Oh so precious you are. Now, how come Republicans like yourself are so quiet when others who espouse racial hatred, meanness, and prejudice against minorities, women, homosexuals, etc.? You may not agree with them on a personal level but are you going to stand up to those within your party who do espouse that type of rhetoric?
And what proof do you offer us other than YOUR WORDS? What does any of this self-righteous back patting have to do with Sen. McCain's stance on Amb. Rice's appearances on Sunday morning talk shows and Benghazi?
As for your spouting of "our constitutional rights", every American citizen has the same constitutional rights that you do. Constitutional rights don't belong to one political ideology alone.
Lastly, keep your personal religious affiliations out of political discussions. I and many others could care less about your regular church attendance as going to church on a regular basis has no bearing on whether a person is good and caring, or not. Don't believe me? Go back and take a look at the results of the 2012 election - most Republican states are southern states, and the majority of those southern states have high church participation rates and low rates of charitable giving to ALL. True followers of the teaching of Jesus give to everyone even non believers. They don't limit their charity to only those who share their specific religious dogma.
She will just lie! She will NOT be under oath! She will continue the string (more like a rope) of lies of this administration....
If it looks like a duck (lie), walks like a duck, sounds like a duck....
it Must be a DUCK!
then they will SCREAM racism as the cause, not the fact that she is an Obama PUPPET... and will say/do anything he says even if not true.
they all lie its part of the job description romney did it for 6 months,hows he doing anyway?
All over the middle east?? They are training and are all over the united states. I wouldn't be surprised if o is their commander in chief.
And they were all allowed into this country while W ran the show! So your point is?
MEWAYNE: Actually they came-in under Clinton
The GOP has no standing with the majority of the public on anything to do with foreign affairs. Bush, Cheney and Iraq have destroyed their credibility and they know it. Fox can scream and holler all they want. The majority are not listening
and wouldn't understand if they were.
I would like Rice to ask these GOP politicians why they were so quiet when 4 of our Embassies were attacked and over 40 killed during W's 8 years in office? I mean, where were these guys back then? And if you want to talk about misleading the American people, heck the GOP won the award for that one back then. And that cost a lot us a heck of a lot more than 4 lives, more like 150,000 and trillions of dollars we still are trying to pay for. So come on Senators McCain, Ayotte and Graham, let's hear about what happened during W's two terms which you guys hid from the American people?
Probably because that administration didn't actively prevent assistance in order to assure Americans were killed.
I am getting completely annoyed with this whole thing. What difference does it make WHY the embassy was attacked and burned? The fact remains that it WAS attacked.
And frankly, who cares what John McCain thinks? I mean, it's not like HE has great judgement or anything like that...(Sarah Palin).
I see this as McCain attention grabbing... kind of like Snookie or Paris....they don't really have anything to offer but boy you sure see them in the headlines...alot...
MacRae....After reading your comment you do appear to be an uneducated fool
It appears that this blog is full of obama worshipers. It is a contagious disease that is destroying our country! Rice is nothing more than a political person without any ethical standards. She has played the race card like obama and they are united in more ways than you would think. She will support obama as he becomes the absolute emperor of the USA. It is a world wide movement to establish a one world government! Look at the dictatorship power grabs throughout the world. Egypt, Turkey The US and many more are following suit. The return of Jesus Christ is not far away as the predictions in the Bible are coming true. The clash of the northern king and the southern king just prior to the return of Jesus as mentioned in the book Daniel
Nonsense!
Actually if you are referring to Condie Rice, you might actually make sense. And I suggest you lay off the booze, actually READ the Bible for a change and hey we have been waiting for Jesus for 2000 years,. And how is Turkey a dictatorship? And haven't you watched tv lately (other than Fox?) the Egyptians are in the streets protesting. America is not even close to becoming a socialist dictatorship, plus OH NO, Jesus himself was a socialist! He said feed the hungry, help the poor, the needy, widows and orphans, cure the sick. Hmmmm let's see here. During the vandal raids into Rome in the 400s, Jesus was coming. It was the end of the world. In the 500s it was with Attila the Hun. In the 1200s it was with the Tatars, in the 1400s it was the black plague, and in every century since then.. Jesus was coming. During the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Cuban Missile crisis. Don't worry about when Jesus is coming because he said that nobody knows the hour, just worry about your own salvation and let the rest of us worry about ours! And don't rush Jesus, he's waiting for more wackos like you to come out of the woodwork so that during the rapture you will all be screaming while real christians are taken up to meet him.
Yes people have thought that the second coming of Jesus was just around the corner since year 0001, but nothing yet.
Obama do yourself a favor. Forget about Rice, she is a liar. Nominate John Bolton and everyone will be happy.
Bolton is a lunatic
Bolton would be worse than Mccain himself.
I would like to see the federal government do one thing and one thing only and that is to get out of our personal lives for election purposes, quit lying to the American people and scaring the elderly about taking away things that have already been worked for and are being received. I would like to see the politicians run out of Washington and people sent there to do one thing and one thing only, make sure that the American people are protected from all foreign enemies, and that is ALL. If there are to be laws created, let the American people vote on those laws, not a bunch of people who have been bought and paid for by some lobby group, or foreign government. We are intelligent enough to decide if a law is needed or not, and if that law will actually protect us or hurt us. Just balance the budget, pay for the military and the national parks and that is all that the government should be doing. Of course that is just my opinion I could be wrong. NOT!!!!!!!!
You have not read the constitution have you what Obama is trying to do is right in it. You don't even have to read the whole thing to see that what the gop says is unconstitutional is actually what it tells the government to do.
Can we agree that the news we all heard on the day of the attack was mixed up, with confusion as to what was happening where? We know there were demonstrations at the actual American Embassy in Egypt, as well as at the consulate in Benghazi. The news, seemed to intone that both situations were somewhat linked, due to the movie release that enflamed many in the Middle Eastern countries, and the news was more then happy to link it all together for the wow factor.
On top of our news reports, trying to gain exposure and viewership, we had somewhat limited information on the ground in Benghazi, because Libya was requesting time to conduct their own investigation before they would allow the American forensics teams to go in. So there was a period of hours to days before real accurate information could be garnered, verified, and certified for public consumption. We must also understand that the Pentagon and CIA are famous for limiting the amount of intel we get in the public due to "need to know" requirements that these government agencies work under for military purposes.
These agencies, like Geraldo Rivera, who drew actual troop movements in the sand in Iraq that could have put our troops in danger, should not necessarily post the exact locations or hype the stories, in order to further enflame a populace, or to create conditions that are counter to what the American goals are, and in keeping with diffusing a volatile situation.
We did hear and see clips of local Libyan American support the following morning, who took it upon themselves to rout out the perpetrators of the attack on the consulate.
Let us also not forget that Consulates are typically small office complexes, used for passport issuance, and for our foreign services and were never intended to be as well fortified as an actual Embassy.
And finally, let us understand the political ramifications of our Republicans, pushing their agenda to win the White House, and we have plenty of Fox Entertainment News we should always be wary of, due to its partisan nature towards that end, that was more than willing to be a willing partner of creating viewership by any means possible!
Let us ask ourselves one simple question, because the Republican candidate wanted to make a point that our President Obama did not call out the attack on Benghazi as a terrorist attack, while our President actually did say that all acts of terrorism shall be responded to, when they happen!
Here is the question we each must ask ourselves, as well as those who would use the news and the hype for their own ends:
Is there ever a time when an attack, of any sort, upon the hallowed soil of an American Embassy or Consulate, or an Embassy or Consulate of any other nation, that we would not call it an act of terrorism?
This question is at the root of the Republican claims that our government was not straight with us, even though our president, while doing the Rose Garden statement the morning after the event, which was related to the Benghazi incident without a doubt, when he said "No terrorist attack will ever go unpunished!"
If we view the world through a political bubble, whose only purpose is to smear the opposing party or candidate or President, then we can easily see that the claims of the Republicans and their select news media, were more than willing partners, to take the words out of context, or find a way to accuse our standing President of not being responsible, while he is also privy to much of the same responsiblity of trying to diffuse an enflamed populace in far away places, just as well as our intelligence agencies are. His words were carefully crafted to not make things worse! That is the responsibility and weight upon the shoulders of all diplomats, who must strive for peaceful solutions, while behind the doors the investigations continue unabated, in hopes of finding and tracking the criminals down!
John McCain and his FOX posse were howling at the moon, trying to create a firestorm of dissent over the loss of four American lives in Benghazi, while historically endorsing the war in Iraq, where thousands of American lives were lost under the guidance of the Republican Party, without one bad word to say!
We should always suspect the intentions of any "News" service, whose primary goal is to be a political arm of any political party! We should always take into account of the party who would toss gasoline upon the fire to make an opponent look bad!
Anyone who gets their news from fux is of course a moron...
Jack ....Do you work for obama? Your comment resembles the rhetorical lies obama puts out. Don't be a fool and start thinking for yourself for a change
so, ignorance really is bliss?
I endorse Obama because he represents a party more in tune with the American populace. He believes in a nation where all men (and women) are created equal! He does not endorse that some rich men are more equal than others, like the Republican Party does!
So, if you want to intone I work for him, you have it all backwards. I endorse him because I believe he is trying to work for me.
The Republicans have no monopoly on how this nation shoulod handle its business, but they act like it is their way or the highway, even when we vote them out of office!
If our elections mean nothing to the Republican Party, who have no problem blocking the agenda of the victorious party, and seek to control it with a minority filibuster, then it is a depraved party!
It is not that the Democratic Party has changed! It is the fact that the Republican Party has adopted vote blocking, ad distortions, and birtherism that rubs off on every voter who would identify themselves as a Republican! It is the Republican Party who has decided God should rule this nation from the Old Testiment, while tossing the New Testament aside! It is Republicans who refuse all other religions! It is Republicans who oppose all but the white race. It is Republicans who have fallen out of step with reality.
Depending upon Rush Limbaugh and Fox Entertainment News? Do you really think it makes the majority of Americans trust you? Do you believe, for one minute, that looking down your noses at the 98% of Americans, who strive to gain access to living wages, that greedy corporations fail to provide for, will endear a majority of Americans to your cause, while your candidate ships American jobs to Romney Enterprise Zones in slave labor countries?
Get real!
vagoerge you sound like a Rush disciple . No facts just a bunch of hot air.
Wherew were these senators when bush/cheney/rice lied lied and lied some more about Iraq? Remember condie talking about the mushroom cloud over America and all of that reichwing nonsense? Where were theee fine republican senators when the president from their party was a liar liar liar pants on fire? This make mccain and graham partisan punks of the worst sort...
Be specific. What lie are you talking about. Yes Iraq had WMDs.
Condi was one of the best sec of state this country has ever had. The middle east was in peace when she left. The middle east is a big mess and a big war waiting to happen today.
An Ambassador got killed. Apparently that does not mean much to you, but he is part of leadership, and his security should be just as good as the presidents. Why did Obama leave this very important person in a situation where he had no security or no help?
Bush never lost an Ambassador.
I'd really like to know why the hell she's meeting with him anyway.She just needs to tell him to buzz off.I know she has more class than to do that, but she should've ignored him.I think she wanted to meet him personally so she could say to him: Listen old loserman, ever since you chose Sarah Palin, you've been doing nothing but look and sound stupid.Enough already, Iam gonna be confirmed whether you like it or not.
I think McCain is making himself look bad, and like hes acting with sour grapes. Ms.Rice relayed the information she was given, she had no reason to doubt the info. And it was her job to release what she was given, which she did. Its certainly not her fault the info was incorrect. Whomever is responsible for that, is above Ms.Rice. She is just a spokesperson in this. Until I hear her involvement went deeper than that, she is innocent of any wrong doing in my eyes. And the GOP is just making themselves look bad by harping on her. Why not go after the person who decided on the information in the CIA?? Maybe because they cant? So pick on ms.Rice instead?
Anyone who isnt partisan, will see this for what it is, not what the GOP try to make it.
keep guessing...
Take your own advice.
the GOP spends way too much time, singing to the choir. Thats why they dont relate to anyone else.
1) IF YOU LIKE BEING GIVEN 'BAD INFORMATION' BY YOUR GOV'T...FINE....YOU SWALLOW IT...I WILL NOT!
2) In 1997, when President Clinton sought to promote Ms. Rice to the position of Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, members of the Congressional Black Caucus objected to the appointment based on her history of being part of the Washington Elite Class. This is the same Congressional Black Caucus, who is now in 2012 attempting to defend her with trumped up charges of racism and sexism.
SO DON'T EFFING TELL ME anymore garbage about racism or witchhunts...Keep your head in the sand....I will not!
Just a another obama failure playing the race card to try and cover her ineptness. She is a joke at the UN and would be an even bigger joke as SOS.
but she lies so convincingly under pressure. A true asset for the Obama administration.
These old fools, especially McCain, should retire before they disrupt what should be a constructive return to a functioning political system. Seems they just can't get away from obstructionism and refuse to believe that the people have rejected their antics and policies.
Not before Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. Most of the old farts in congress, mainly the senate are old and play the game well.
This country is in dire need of more Marco Rubio. We need people like him in congress.
Rice has demonstrated she can consistently lie under pressure without blinking. She is perfect for this administration and the coronation should proceed.
This is why nothing ever gets done, to many rich old people. There should be a limit on how long people can run for Senate.
There are limits, it's called elections. If the same idiot people keep voting them in, then you will keep getting the same idiot Senators.
Right! Maybe get rid of Harriet Reid the old fart from Nevada!
Are you kidding!! When are these Republican babies quit whinning about losing the election.
We will never get anything done with their games.
Bush 2,996 Americans dead on our soil. Bush knew months ahead of time and we had no security.
Need to know, did Susan Rice need to know the details until it is investigated. Do we need to know everything.
Why do we give these republicans media attention? It's like all these other crazy people that feed on seeing their selves on TV.
Stop giving them attention in the media, maybe they will go home and go to sleep.
Do you have any proof that Bush knew months before? Link please and make sure it is creditable.
The republicans lost the presidency, but they were voted in to keep the checkbook. The bottom line is the American people want Obama to lead and the republicans to get the spending under control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Ladin_Determined_To_Strike_in_US
Screw McCain, he's an idiot
Like obamma?
Rice is supported by obama because she will do anything (lie, etc) for obama and he wants another black person in power. obama has been proven many times to be a racist. Just count the number of blacks that he has appointed and that rode the buses to vote for him.