Secretary Of State Speculation Turns Up Heat On Rice
President Obama hasn't even named his choice to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who plans to step down at the end of this term. But there's been a lot of heated rhetoric this week over one of the front-runners, Susan Rice.
Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, spoke on behalf of the administration on five Sunday talk shows days after the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. At the time, she suggested the attack began as a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim video. U.S. officials now say it was a terrorist attack.
Republicans have criticized Rice's characterization of the attack, and they don't want to see her get a promotion.
Rice may not have the nomination in the bag — but she does have her advocates, including Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Rice's hometown, Washington, D.C., in Congress.
"We do not intend to stand by while Ambassador Susan Rice, who had nothing to do with the tragic Benghazi attack, is made the scapegoat of the tragedy because she relayed to the public the only official intelligence that was available to the administration at the time," Norton said.
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Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., appear during a news conference Wednesday about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Graham argued that Susan Rice, currently the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., misled the public when addressing the attack, in which four Americans were killed.