What was supposed to be a make-nice meeting on Tuesday seemed only to make things more contentious between the White House and Senate Republicans over U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s comments following the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Rice came face to face with some of her harshest Republican critics, hoping to allay their concerns about whether she misled Americans regarding what precipitated the assault. President Obama has staunchly defended Rice and is said to be considering her for his next secretary of state, but the meeting apparently only served to deepen GOP skepticism.
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White House press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that the focus by Republican senators on Ambassador Susan Rice's statements after the attack in Benghazi is misplaced.
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“Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.).
Rice and Acting CIA Director Michael Morell met privately with Graham and Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have been leading the GOP charge against the administration since the attack that led to the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Ayotte said she left the meeting with Rice “more troubled, not less.”
McCain told reporters that he and his colleagues remain “significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn’t get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulate that we tried to get.”
And late Tuesday, the three senators issued a statement that said: “We are disturbed by the Administration’s continued inability to answer even the most basic questions about the Benghazi attack and the Administration’s response. Beyond Ambassador Rice’s misstatements, we continue to have questions about what happened in Benghazi before, during, and after the attack on our consulate — as well as the President’s statements regarding the attack.”
For several weeks, Rice has defended herself against allegations that she knowingly misled the public about the assault during a series of appearances on Sunday political talk shows five days afterward. She said repeatedly then that a spontaneous demonstration led to the violence, a claim later debunked by intelligence officials and reports from the ground.
Some Republicans have suggested that the administration purposely mischaracterized the event for fear of political fallout in the closing stages of the presidential campaign, but three weeks after Election Day, the issue remains politically volatile.
“It was clear that the information she gave the American people was incorrect when she said that it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful group,” McCain said Tuesday. “It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case.”
In a statement after the meeting Tuesday, Rice said that she and Morell “explained 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.”
Rice came face to face with some of her harshest Republican critics, hoping to allay their concerns about whether she misled Americans regarding what precipitated the assault. President Obama has staunchly defended Rice and is said to be considering her for his next secretary of state, but the meeting apparently only served to deepen GOP skepticism.
Video
White House press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that the focus by Republican senators on Ambassador Susan Rice's statements after the attack in Benghazi is misplaced.
More from PostPolitics
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Aaron Blake THE FIX | A new poll shows the N.J. governor with a nearly unheard-of approval rating.
Ed O'Keefe The bipartisan commission that set policymakers on the path to negotiations underway now.
“Bottom line, I’m more disturbed now than I was before,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.).
Rice and Acting CIA Director Michael Morell met privately with Graham and Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have been leading the GOP charge against the administration since the attack that led to the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Ayotte said she left the meeting with Rice “more troubled, not less.”
McCain told reporters that he and his colleagues remain “significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn’t get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulate that we tried to get.”
And late Tuesday, the three senators issued a statement that said: “We are disturbed by the Administration’s continued inability to answer even the most basic questions about the Benghazi attack and the Administration’s response. Beyond Ambassador Rice’s misstatements, we continue to have questions about what happened in Benghazi before, during, and after the attack on our consulate — as well as the President’s statements regarding the attack.”
For several weeks, Rice has defended herself against allegations that she knowingly misled the public about the assault during a series of appearances on Sunday political talk shows five days afterward. She said repeatedly then that a spontaneous demonstration led to the violence, a claim later debunked by intelligence officials and reports from the ground.
Some Republicans have suggested that the administration purposely mischaracterized the event for fear of political fallout in the closing stages of the presidential campaign, but three weeks after Election Day, the issue remains politically volatile.
“It was clear that the information she gave the American people was incorrect when she said that it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful group,” McCain said Tuesday. “It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case.”
In a statement after the meeting Tuesday, Rice said that she and Morell “explained 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.”