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After Benghazi Meeting, 3 Republicans Say Concerns Grow After Benghazi Meeting, 3 Republicans Say Concerns Grow
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — Three Republican senators emerged from a closed-door briefing on Tuesday with Susan E. Rice, the United Nations ambassador, saying that they were more concerned than ever about the Obama administration’s explanation of events leading up to the deadly attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, conceded on Tuesday that she incorrectly described the attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya, in September as following a spontaneous protest, rather than being a terrorist attack. But she said she based her statement on the intelligence available at the time and did not intend to mislead the American public.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the three senators, John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, expressed their dissatisfaction with what they had heard. Ms. Rice’s acknowledgment, in a meeting on Capitol Hill with three Republican senators who had sharply criticized her earlier statements in a series of televsion interviews after the attack, seemed to do little to quell their anger. The senators emerged from the meeting voicing even deeper reservations about Ms. Rice’s role in the messy aftermath of the Benghazi attack, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans.
“We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got, and some that we didn’t get,” Mr. McCain said. “We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got, and some that we didn’t get,” Senator John McCain of Arizona said to reporters. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said, “Bottom line: I’m more concerned than I was before” — a sentiment echoed by Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.
“Bottom line,” Mr. Graham said, “I’m more concerned than I was before.” Their statements – coming after Ms. Rice’s conciliatory remarks during a meeting designed to mend fences with her three critics and smooth the way for her nomination as secretary of state if President Obama decides on her as the successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton – attested to the bitterness of the feud between the White House and Republicans over Benghazi.
Added Ms. Ayotte, “I’m more troubled today.” Mr. Graham and Ms. Ayotte said that knowing what they know now, they would place a hold on Ms. Rice’s nomination if Mr. Obama selected her.
Ms. Rice asked for the meeting, according to a government official, after Mr. McCain on Sunday seemed to soften his opposition to her potential nomination as secretary of state and said “she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself.”
Ms. Rice has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Mr. Graham and Ms. Ayotte said on Tuesday that knowing what they know now, they would place a hold on Ms. Rice’s nomination if President Obama selected her.
“I wouldn’t vote for anybody being nominated out of the Benghazi debacle until I had answers about what happened that I don’t have today,” Mr. Graham said.“I wouldn’t vote for anybody being nominated out of the Benghazi debacle until I had answers about what happened that I don’t have today,” Mr. Graham said.
Ms. Rice has faced withering criticism over her comments on Sunday talk shows in the week after the Benghazi attack that the strike stemmed from a spontaneous protest that extremists then exploited, rather than being a premeditated terrorist attack. That characterization proved inaccurate, and Republicans seized on her interviews as evidence of an attempted cover-up by the administration. The White House has defended Ms. Rice by saying she was simply articulating talking points produced by intelligence agencies. Republicans have seized on Ms. Rice’s initial account – that the Benghazi attack stemmed from a spontaneous protest gone awry, rather than being a premeditated terrorist attack – as a politically motivated cover-up by the administration. The White House has defended Ms. Rice by saying she was simply articulating talking points produced by intelligence agencies.
The White House had welcomed Mr. McCain’s shift in tone during a briefing on Monday before news of the meeting was disclosed. “I certainly saw those comments and appreciate them,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “As the president has said, and I and others have said, Ambassador Rice has done an excellent job at the United Nations and is highly qualified for any number of positions in the foreign policy arena.” Ms. Rice is viewed as Mr. Obama’s favored candidate to replace Mrs. Clinton. The president delivered a passionate defense of Ms. Rice at his news conference two weeks ago and scolded the senators for making her a target in their broader attack on the White House.
Ms. Rice had asked for the meeting and was accompanied by the acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Michael J. Morrell, amid signs that Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham were softening their opposition to her potential nomination. “She deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself,” Mr. McCain said on Sunday.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Ms. Rice said she and Mr. Morrell discussed the talking points that she used when she appeared on five Sunday morning talk shows on Sept. 16, five days after the attack.
“We 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,” Ms. Rice said.
“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,” she added. “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.”
That did not mollify the senators. Mr. Graham said that as the ambassador to the United Nations, Ms. Rice had access to classified intelligence about the attack, and had an obligation to question intelligence agencies before presenting an account that later proved inaccurate.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said after the meeting: “There are no unanswered questions about Ambassador Rice’s appearance on Sunday shows and the talking points she used for those appearances that were provided by the intelligence community. Those questions have been answered.”

Peter Baker contributed reporting.

Peter Baker contributed reporting.