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Subscribe to RSSUPDATED 4:24 p.m. ET -- President Barack Obama’s possible choice of United Nations envoy Susan Rice to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to be in greater jeopardy Wednesday after one key Republican senator broadened the scope of questions about her record. Another GOP senator implied she was too much of a personal and party loyalist to head the State Department and urged the president to “step back” from the idea of nominating Rice.
Rice went to Capitol Hill Wednesday for a second consecutive day of meetings with skeptical GOP senators, meeting with Susan Collins of Maine and Bob Corker of Tennessee, who is slated to become the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and would have a key role in the confirmation hearing for a secretary of state nominee.
UN ambassador Susan Rice has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans who blame her for more than one security failure abroad. But President Obama continues to support Rice, who is expected to become Obama's choice to replace Hillary Clinton as the next Secretary of State. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Until Wednesday, Rice had come under Republican fire primarily for her role in speaking for the Obama administration in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
But in comments to reporters after meeting with Rice, Collins expanded the criticism of Rice to include her potential role in protecting the American embassies in Kenya and Somalia that were hit by al Qaida attacks in 1998, when Rice served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs.
Collins said she was “very troubled by the fact that we seem not to have learned from the 1998 bombings of two of our embassies in Africa at the time when Ambassador Rice was the assistant secretary for African affairs. Those bombings in 1998 resulted in the loss of life of 12 Americans as well as many other foreign nationals.”
She said, “What troubles me so much is the Benghazi attack in many ways echoes the attacks on those embassies in 1998, when Susan Rice was head of the African region for our State Department. In both cases the ambassadors begged for additional security” but she said, as with the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, those requests were turned down by the State Department.
Collins said that Rice told her “she would have to refresh her memory” of the 1998 events and that she was not directly involved in turning down the request for embassy security in 1998.
But Collins seemed dissatisfied with Rice’s response, saying, “Surely given her position as the assistant secretary for African affairs, she had to be aware of the general threat assessment and of the ambassadors’ repeated requests for more security.”
Sen. Susan Collins talks about her meeting with Ambassador Susan Rice and says Sen. John Kerry would be a better Secretary of State. Collins also said it's premature to reach a judgment on the confirmation.
Collins said that before she could support Rice’s nomination, “I would need to have additional information.”
Collins, the senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, is up for re-election in 2014. Obama carried her state in the presidential election with 56 percent of the vote.
After his meeting with Rice, Corker seemed to be sending a plea or a warning to Obama to not pick his U.N. envoy as the next secretary of state.
“I know that at some point I may play a semi-important role in who the next secretary of state may be,” Corker told reporters at the Capitol. “I would just ask the president to step back for a moment and realize that all of us here hold the secretary of state to a very different standard than most Cabinet members.”
Corker said, “We want someone of independence.”
He added that “all of us … can become close to people and have loyal soldiers,” implying that Rice was one of those personal loyalists and therefore wouldn’t be right for the job. It was an echo of his comment Tuesday that “when I hear Susan (Rice) talk, she sounds to me like she'd be a great head of the Democratic National Committee.”
At a meeting at the White House with his Cabinet members, with Rice present, in response to a question from a reporter about how senators were treating Rice, Obama said Wednesday, "Susan Rice is extraordinary. I couldn't be prouder of the job that she's done."
At Obama’s Nov. 14 press conference, after Rice came under fire from Republican senators John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, the president gave a vigorous defense of his U.N. envoy.
“When they go after the U.N. ambassador, apparently because they think she’s an easy target, then they’ve got a problem with me,” he said. “And should I choose, if I think that she would be the best person to serve America in the capacity of the State Department, then I will nominate her.”
McCain, Graham, and Ayotte have all said they’d oppose Rice if Obama nominates her, but the comments Wednesday from Collins and Corker appeared to reflect a growing skepticism in Republican ranks.
When a reporter asked Collins about Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as a potential secretary of state, she replied, “I think John Kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues.”
This comment added to the apparent GOP support for Kerry.
On Tuesday McCain told Fox News, “John Kerry came within a whisker of being president of the United States. I think works in his favor (as a nominee to be secretary of state). But I would love to hear him make the case. But I don`t have anything in his background like this tragedy in Benghazi that would make me really want to carefully examine the whole situation.”
For a nomination that hasn’t yet happened and may not happen at all, the potential Rice nomination is generating enormous political heat and noise. That’s partly because it’s shaping up as a nose-to-nose test of Obama’s presidential clout and credibility in the aftermath of his Nov. 6 victory. But it’s also partly because the political futures of Collins, Kerry and others could be on the line.
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It's interesting that the Republicans have concerns about Benghazi, and about what happened in 1998, but they never batted an eye or raised a finger during Bush's 8 years, when American embassies and consulates were attacked 11 times, and over 40 people were killed. Selective memory is the best, isn't it?
It's OK......if you're a Republican.
Man, the Democrats are so stupid they all have to get 1 talking point handed down to them from a guy who's actually above 110 IQ, and then they just mindlessly repeat it over and over.
The issue here obviously is not attacks on diplomatic facilities, we have no control over that. It is lowering security at facilities that were in very dangerous places, instead of cutting security elsewhere, as Obama could have.
And lying in the aftermath.
flbikerchick - you are 100% correct!
The Intelligence community has admitted that they made a mistake in the very beginning - and all Susan Rice did was to repeat their accidental misinformation.
All this krap going on now is baecause of two reasons:
1. too many people believe the bull-krap that Fox News spews out (to maintain ratings - truth not an issue)
2. Several old fart senators trying to manufature positions for themselves on some investigation committee to keep their names in the headlines (aka - EGO).
This is all stupid waste of tome & energy.
hey bikerchic...those embassies weren't left / denied security! and they sure didn't get denial when the calls for help went out...'stand down' is not what you want to hear when you're waiting for the calvary!
You made that up, Chesty. No one lowered security anywhere.
Chesty - you absolutely need to turn Fox News Network off - and stop obsessing about this tragedy..
That's Right! If you belong to the exclusive Senatorial club like John Kerry, you have a better shot for future appointments, unlike the UN ambassador. The senators take care of their ow-ow-ow-ownnnn.
And now another moderate Republican is deeply, deeply, deeply troubled by Susan Rice's non-answers regarding her lies days after the White House knew it was a terrorist attack.
Amazing....closed door briefings, specific one on one briefings with the acting CIA director, and these boneheads still have questions. What happened? They forget their dummy lists?
You are right. There are more questions. It seems insane to me that the most simple questions have no answer. Two examples: 1) Who gave the order to let guns walk accross the border? 2) Who doctored the CIA report and did Rice know it was doctored? I bet the President knows the answer to both.
Another Republican voices opposition to something that the President may or may not want to do. BF surprise. The Grand Obstructionist Party has learned nothing about anything. They'll likely BS us over the cliff as well...
obambam wants the cliff...he has already said so...lets, shall we?
Has anyone seen proposals for spending cuts? If I understand the President's position, it is "give me what I want now, and we will talk about the spending cuts later." The Dems pulled this nonsense twice before. The House would be stupid to let them pull it again. Without the spending cuts, there is no solution to the problem. I say, let everyone pay more in taxes. Let's go over the cliff and see what is on the other side.
Yep - let's go over that cliff. GOP will take the blame, become more open to discussion, do less filibusters, and actually work for the good of the country over the GOP party.
Fannie is bankrupt, as is Freddie, Sallie, the US post office, AmTraK, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Within ten years the Obamacare deficit will be over two trillion dollars. Even the White House estimates that the budget deficit will exceed $20 trillion in 2016, and that does not count the unfunded liabilities. Giving the government more money to waste is no solution. They waste every penny. The more they get, the more they waste. Without spending cuts we are going over the cliff anyway. The rating agencies will see to it. Still I have not seen a single spending cut proposal from the White House.
This is window dressing. She'll be nominated. This is just a political dance by the Right because they are still mad about the election. Let's focus on creating a solution to make sure this Syria incident does not occur again (RIP) to those who lost the life. Let's focus on the real issues America is facing. Added, Rice even more qualified that Hillary Clinton for the position. How dare Mccain question her intelligence. From a man who graduated at the bottom of his class, almost brought down an aircraft carrier, etc. Who made Mccain the spokes person? I'm tired of seeing his face. He still has not got over PRES. Obama spanking his butt. I am out.......
'not got over'...? lolol
Classic Obama Set-Up....
Ya know what I'd like to know!?!? WHERE WERE THESE CLOWNS WHEN GEORGE BUSH WENT IN FRONT OF THE PUBLIC ON NATIONAL TELEVISION AND TOLD US THAT IRAQ HAD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION. WHICH WAS A TOTAL AND COMPLETE LIE! IT WAS A FALSE STATEMENT PEROID! Where was all the concern then GOP LEADER'S McCAIN?? Susan Collins?? Lindsay Graham?? That's right! Not a peep out of any of you!!
McCAIN, COLLINS, and GRAHAM!! You're fiscally responsible for the 10 trillion in debt we now have from the IRAQ and AFGAN wars!! And now you DARE to waste more tax payer dollars on hears for bad information. This IS INSANE!!! THE GOP has gone completely MAD!!
It's OK......if you're a Republican.
Mike: You have a bad memory. The WMD was confirmed by CIA as well as M-5 and the Israeli secret service. Don't try to rewrite history with talking points.
Jatty - that is absolutely not true. The WOMD's were never "confirmed" by anyone. That is a flat out lie that you probably heard on Fox News. George Bush, Dick Cheney & Condeleeza Rice are "war criminals" in many people's opinion - in the U.S,; and around the world. Ten's of thousands of people died just to enrich the U.S. military-indusrial complex.
Wow. Get off your pills and get a stinking job.
Remember Valerie Plame? She was an active intel agent outed by Cheney, and Scooter is still in jail because he fell on his sword for Darth Cheney. Bush finally wised up over Cheney's tactics and refused to pardon Scooter.
I think that's why GWB has become a recluse - he was used for the first 6 years of his presidency, and he knows it.
Why do most responses from republican morons like Jatty include some reference to someone being unemployed or on food stamps or welfare? Do they think every liberal is from a red state - because those states use those programs the most.
And it just makes them sound childish and immature - because they got nothing else.
Pflame was a receptionist. She was not covert. She was not "outed" by Cheney. You don't know squat.
This has nothing to do with Rice. All this is about is getting John Kerry in the State seat and out of his mass. senate seat. Why ?? because once he vacates that, Scott Brown can enter into the election to fill that vacated Senate seat and THAT is what McCain and the other losers want. They know it has nothing to do with Rice. If Kerry's name comes up as a nominee, every republican will vote him inwithout asking the first question. Take that to the bank.
Have to say I am really disappointed in Senator Collins. The innuendo about the embassy bombings is really beneath contempt. It's as if the Republicans need to have some blood for losing the national election.
That, and the apparent hope that they can get Scott Brown back in the Senate (I'm not so sure about that, Brown was damaged in the nasty election race against Warren-and no, it didn't do Warren's image any favors either).
Who cares. So Americans are dead by Muslims. How is that different than any other day. Muslims flew two planes into buildings and the Democrats agreed with Bush to go to war and once the fighting started the Democrats turned their backs on the soldiers they sent. Sound familiar? The Democrats are vial scum pieces of dog $hit and the Republicans are no better. Screw them all. The house of cards will fall whether I vote or not. I have to get up and go to work every day to pay for someone to sit on their fat a$$ and have kids they can't afford. Get it minorities. Yes I said it. People of color are causing the great collapse of this country. If Obama has his way this country will resemble the Republic of Kongo before long. Don't believe me. Try driving through an inner city neighborhood. All that's missing are people carrying AK47's. My plan is to leave and not let this government tax me for one more dollar. You might be glad I'm gone but who is going to feed your bastard kids. Guess you will have to get your fat a$$ out of bed and feed yourself. What a novel idea.
Bye-Bye...
Yeah we are going to miss your $00.00007.
Villum, funny how the liberals blame Bush for 2 wars but don't mention that we were attacked by terrorists. Oh that's right, Obama says he killed Bin Laden and there are no more terrorists.
What rock have you been living under. Bush had information from the CIA months before about that attack and did nothing.
How did dems turn their backs on soldiers? Repubs send soldiers to war - dems take care of them when they get back, especially the wounded.
the wmd are in Iran....
WMD IN IRAN!!!!
How soon the Republicans forget about Condoleezza Rice she had information about planes that could fly in to buildings did tell anyone right away . McCain needs retire he getting senile Republicans are stone wall everything again shame on you claim to be Christians get over you lost
I am always hoping to go to the comments and have an intelligent conversation but all I see are little people seeing who can pee the farthest. On topic, Rice messed up and will eventually go down in flames with those who pushed this lie forward. Obama needs to get some teflon from Bill Clinton for this one...
How did Rice mess up?
To..Bear"""
No that was reguns who was the Teflon president...
Bill was the Comeback Kid
Sure they want John Kerry so they can get scott brown to take his senate seat in Massachusetts ...
ahh memories
what ever happened about this and Why weren't they under oath
Bush & Cheney Meet 9/11 Panel
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2004
CBS/AP) President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney went behind closed doors Thursday to answer questions from members of the Sept. 11 commission who want to know how followers of Osama bin Laden managed to pull off the worst terrorist attack in American history.
Mr. Bush and Cheney were meeting in a private session at the White House with all 10 members of the commission.
***At the administration's request, the questioning was not being recorded, nor was a stenographer present to make a transcript. Commission members were allowed to take notes. That significantly differs with the commission's interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, which a commission member said were recorded. ***
Mr. Bush first opposed creating the commission, and then opposed extending its life. He also initially opposed having Rice testify in public. He at first said he would only meet with the chairman and vice chairman of the panel, and only for an hour. But he relented on all counts.
The White House also resisted giving the commission access to the presidential daily briefing of August 6, 2001, in which threats of a possible attack were discussed. That was recently released publicly.
***Mr. Bush and Cheney are not under oath, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan said they will "tell it exactly how it happened." ***
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/29/terror/main614749.shtml
GIVE IT REST................
OBAMA WILL FIX YOU UP - GHEESH !
I have to agree with and promote the idea that repugnant elements want Kerry chosen so they can increase their power in Congress with the election of Scott Brown. All the rest of this crap is a bunch of smoke and mirrors by republican schemers, nothing else is relevant nor poses such a threat to democrats as this assault on Rice as well as the President by dissident McCain, Graham, and now that bird brained Susan Collins. The Benghazi attack was just another incident that republicans are politicizing and exploiting to its fullest. They will have to someday face the music, they will watch the republican party become more and more irrelevant as they lose influence and power to deceive people.
2002 US Embassy in Karachi Pakistan Attack killed 10
2004 US Embassy Bombed in Uzbekistan 2 killed 9 injured
2004 Gunman Stormed US Consulate in Saudi Arabia 8 killed
2006 Armed men attacked US Embassy in Syria 1 killed
2008 rioters set fire to US Embassy in Serbia
2008 Bombings at US Embassy in Yemen killed 10
Were is the outrage in this? OH BUT THOSE DON’T COUNT BECAUSE A REPUBLICAN WAS IN THE WHITE HOUSE! What a bunch of whining crap from the right!
It's OK.....if you're a Republican.
Did we lower security before those attacks after we had been hit before at the same sites?
......then you're an idiot and there's no comparison.
Earth to Democratic Tards:
--No one is saying America can control when foreigners attack our embassies, the Obama White House is being criticized for stupidly reducing security at a facility that had been bombed and threatened in the recent past, which led to 4 deaths. When they could have reduced security elsewhere.
This is a complicated concept for you stupid people, but it's a little nuanced so you'll have to think really deep about it.
Embassy attack, uncontrollable. Reducing security before embassy attack, when you could have cut security elsewhere instead, controllable.
Think deep.
Did Bush cover these up? Did he send someone to the tv cicuit and lie to the American Public to further his political career?
I didn't think so. Enough already about Bush. Bush is gone. Obama is the president. This happened on his watch, and he sent Rice out to lie for him so he could get reelected. End of story.
It was Congress who voted for cuts in security spending. The Pentagon gets more spending than the State Dept. There has only been ONE attack so far in Obama's term; 3 attacks in GWB's first term alone. Does that say anything? No, it's about the Rightwing industrial complex trying to smear President Obama since the start of his presidency and because their guy lost they want this whole Benghazi issue to eventually try to push for impeachment. That's pretty evident in some of the comments I've been reading here. The elections over. Obama will be President for another four years. 2016 will be another chance to get your guy elected into office. Move on, there are more pressing issues than trying to make this into a scandal, which is not!
If the Bush administration had blamed any of those attacks on a youtube video, then there would have been tremendous amount of outrage from MSNBC, ABC, CNN, democrats, mistermean, and woodbutcher.
Yeah right! Blaming anything on a YouTube video is a real disaster. It's immoral, illegal and against the laws of nature.
And do you really think that Bush knew what a YouTube video was?
Forget the politics: Stevens and the others were sitting ducks. It's time we either pull out of these rogue nations or properly protect our personnel, one. Also, somebody convince me ANYONE connected with the UN would be a good choice.
No, Democrat or Republican, we just keep sacrificing our boys and girls for oil, to retaliate, for this, for that, with no more regard for life than the so-called enemy. Remember back in the early days of Iraq when the troops didn't even have adequate anti-roadside bomb plates on their vehicles. Similar situation imo....
And the Republicans want to know why their party is in a steep nosedive toward extinction? It can all be traced right back to years of smug, self righteous behavior evinced by people just such as McCain and Graham, guys who are shooting the party in the foot continuously with all their feigned outrage over the qualiifications of Susan Wright. I submit that this has nothing to do with Miss Wright; rather it's no more than a petty attempt to draw attention and as a way for them to show Republicanism still has power in Washington politics. Hell, it's damn near over fellas! Changing demographics of the country will continue to make Republicanism the next party of No Nothings and Whigs.
Sorry, I meant Rice not Wright. Still, this attack on the President's choice for Secretary of State is nothing more than pure obstructionism, something Republicans have mastered only too well over the past four years!
I agree with an earlier comment.this is a concerted effort of the Republicans to deep six Rice in favor of Kerry. Then, a senate seat would be open in Massachusetts...a senate seat made for former senator Brown. I don't trust any Republican at this point...None. They are all negative, conspiratorial, and conniving.
I confess to knowing little about Susan Rice or her qualifications, but the silly comparison of a 1998 embassy bombing and the Benghazi attack is embarrassing. Especially by a sitting member of the Senate who could both introduce and vote on security for EVERYTHING we are involved in EVERYWHERE.
it doesn't matter if you are dem. or republican ...what does matter is the freedom we deserve ..the right of our children are at-stake ....
Why is Rice being considered?
In life as in the game of chess once a pawn is sacrificed he/she is out of the game.
Ms Rice "fell on a sword" for President Obama he does not then get to promote his "dead pawn".
Colin Powell learned that the hard way when he fell on a sword for Bush.
Sorry Ms Rice you did as ordered by the corrupt President you work for: your high aspirations are now defunct.
Victor, since reelected maybe he thinks he got a pawn across the board and now instead of asking for his pawn he wants a queen....
Would we really want anyone as Sec of State that McCain thought would be good? Afterall he thought that Sarah Palin would be a good VP.
Not one of these yahoos gives a rat's patootie what really happened in Bengazie and certainly none of them has ever shown any interest in the well being of any State Department employees before.
great point...never thought of it that way! you are so right
Okie
Obama called the dead Americans "a bump in the road."
He personally knew the ambassador and he could have cared less.
You think that "yahoo gives a rat's ass" about you and yours?
I suggest we make Rice Ambassador to Libya. Just desserts.
Of all the comments I have read, in all the threads, that is by far the best suggestion I have read yet! Make her Ambassador to Libya. Great!
Do McCain, Ayotte, Graham, Collins et al think we're that stupid? This is all about politics, not Benghazi. They want Kerry because they think they can sneak Scott Brown back into the Senate if Kerry becomes Secretary of State. What a load of BS!
Richard it IS about Politics; in that you are exactly right.
It is about standing up to an administration that thinks it is untouchable.
That is correct - it is politics
+ the desire on McCain & Graham ++ to get on some invesigative committee & spew their righteous indignation & try to look important..
Suzq-1497446 - you are right and you are wrong. You are wrong in that this is a very important position and we don't need another Obama insider. You are right - there are a lot more important issues - especially the economy so I sincerely hope you did not vote for Obama because if you did - you are wrong again.