E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSJust-resigned CIA Director David Petraeus says he will testify this week at congressional hearings looking into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as new details emerge about the emails that helped end his career. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Updated at 4:44 p.m. ET: President Barack Obama on Wednesday spiritedly defended U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice over her response to the September attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead, assailing Republican criticism of her as "outrageous."
At his first news conference since winning re-election, the president said Rice has done “exemplary work” and accused GOP critics of trying to “besmirch” her reputation.
President Obama defends U.N. ambassador Susan Rice against criticism from Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham over the Benghazi attacks in Libya.
“I don’t think there’s any debate in this country that when you have four Americans killed, that’s a problem, and we’ve got to get to the bottom of it and there needs to be accountability. We’ve got to bring those who carried it out to justice. They won’t get any debate from me on that,” Obama said sternly.
“But 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.”
Two of Rice’s main GOP critics refused to back down.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) discusses the Obama administration's handling of the aftermath of the Benghazi attack, accusing the president of "either a cover-up or incompetence." McCain also vowed to block any nomination of UN Ambassador Susan Rice for secretary of state to replace Hillary Clinton.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said shortly after Obama’s news conference that he had “no intention of promoting anyone who is up to their eyeballs in the Benghazi debacle.” Sen. John McCain added: "We owe the American people and the families of the murdered Americans a full and complete explanation, which for two months the President has failed to deliver.”
Bebeto Matthews / AP file
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice speaks during a meeting on Syria in the United Nations Security Council, Aug. 30.
Rice has been mentioned as a possible successor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said she will not continue to serve in Obama's second term beginning in January.
Senior Republican senators vowed earlier on Wednesday to block any future promotion of Rice, questioning her initial description of the Sept. 11 violence on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as a spontaneous outburst rather than a planned attack as unfathomable. Killed in the violence were U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials.
“My judgment at this time is that four Americans were killed, and the information that our U.N. ambassador conveyed was clearly false," McCain, R-Ariz., the top GOP senator on the Armed Services Committee, told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference. "There was overwhelming evidence that it was completely false. And she should have known what the situation and circumstances were and not tell the world on all Sunday morning talk shows.”
Graham, of South Carolina, supported that stance at the same news conference, saying of Rice, "I don't trust her. And the reason I don't trust her is because I think she knew better, and if she didn't know better, she shouldn't be the voice of America.”
The two lawmakers along with Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire are pressing for a special, Watergate-style select Senate committee to investigate the Benghazi attack. They complained that separate inquiries by various Senate panels will fail to get to the bottom of the deadly incident.
Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor to protest the potential appointment of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. At issue are Rice's comments that Benghazi was triggered by a video maligning the Prophet Mohammad. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.
Rice has been the focal point of accusations that the Obama administration misled the public about the nature of the Benghazi attack. Five days after the attack, she appeared on several news talk programs and said the attack stemmed from outrage in the Arab world over an anti-Muslim video, not an act of terrorism. The White House later corrected that claim.
Obama wouldn’t comment on whether he’d nominate Rice to replace Clinton on his Cabinet. But he said of Rice: “She has done exemplary work.”
“She made an appearance at the request of the White House in which she gave her best understanding of the intelligence (on Benghazi) that had been provided to her. If Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me – and I’m happy to have that discussion with them," he said animatedly.
“But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation, is outrageous.”
Shortly after the president’s remarks, Graham issued the following statement:
“Mr. President, don’t think for one minute I don’t hold you ultimately responsible for Benghazi. I think you failed as Commander in Chief before, during, and after the attack.
We owe it to the American people and the victims of this attack to have full, fair hearings and accountability be assigned where appropriate. Given what I know now, I have no intention of promoting anyone who is up to their eyeballs in the Benghazi debacle.”
McCain said initial Obama administration statements the the Benghazi attack was triggered by a spontaneous demonstration and a hateful video “clearly did not comport with the facts on the ground.“
In a statement issued after Obama’s news conference, McCain repeated his call for a select committee to be appointed “to obtain a full and complete accounting which would be credible with the American people."
Not all Republican senators agree with the the need for a special select committee.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she did not “see the benefit” of such an approach, noting the Homeland Security Committee has governmentwide jurisdiction and “a history of producing comprehensive bipartisan reports.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn, said assigning the matter to a select committee at this point would be “premature.”
David Petraeus, who stepped down as CIA director last week after acknowledging an extramarital affair, has agreed to testify before Congress on the Benghazi attack. He'll go before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday and the House committee on Friday.
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday that he would like to hear from Petraeus but has yet to formally request a meeting with him.
NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Kelly O’Donnell and NBC News Associate Producer Catherine Chomiak contributed to this report.
More from the news conference:
- Obama: 'No evidence' of national security harm in Petraeus scandal
- Obama: 'Seize the moment' on immigration
- Obama claims mandate on taxes
President Barack Obama holds his first press conference at the White House since being re-elected to a second term.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- In 911 calls, Kelley tries to invoke diplomatic immunity
- Etan Patz suspect indicted on murder, kidnapping charges, sources say
- 'I got the wrong Courtney': Man picks up incorrect girl from school
- Storm system could snarl East Coast holiday travel
- Displaced by Sandy, elderly sisters find time to laugh
- Video: Thousands sign petition for Texas to secede
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
Fix the budget, then you can get worked up about this stuff; this is a non-story, and is only a story as long as we pay attention to it.
What??????????? Are you kidding me are are you just such a greedy yutz you are waiting in line for an obama flat screen?
A terrorist attack that kills a U.S. Ambassador is a non story? WOW.. guess you don't know how to keep things in perspective. Just text "ILUVOBMA on your obama" phone and wait for you free stuff and let patriots worry about national defense.
we will pay attention to it until we get to the truth about what happened. Truth is defined in your dictionary as that form of speech that Obama has never ever practiced.
You Fox Noise victims don't seem able to master basic thought.
The attack is a major issue, and is going to be fully investigated and security greatly improved. Obama and Rice said that from day one.
But the stupid GOP lies about Rice and a supposed cover-up are a manufactured bogus non-story that disappears the second it meets the actual facts.
1) Rice was saying telling exactly WHAT THE CIA BRIEFED HER ABOUT that attack.
2) She said it was not 100% sure what the nature of the attack was, it was going to be investigated and the story could change.
100% truthful on all counts.
Ignore that Fox Noise slanders and conspiracy theories. Those are non-stories.
These angry white men can't stand the thought of a "negro" as Commander-in-Chief. Rice (democrat) has far more diplomatic experience than Rice(Repuke). Gents and Ladies of the right. Some of your daughters and grand daughters will bring a black man to dinner and will bless you with a mixed race baby. Just pray that he or she is as good as our excellent President Barack H. Obama
As for the two whining Senators, McCain remains embittered by his loss to a black man. Lindsey Graham needs a black man to shake him up. The Senator needs to come out of the closet and switch parties. Benghazi is no Watergate.
yhbua yo uneed to get in the present NEGROS is not the correct word any more it is BLACKS or AFRICAN AMERICANS which there are a lot of good ones out there we just managed to get that real bad apple this time again
Yhbua, the only people that bring up race are you liberals. Race card this, race card that.
Gordo, do you know what the quotation marks at both ends of "negro" mean?
Steve it was your party and its sympathaizers who questioned our President's birth place, the one who called him food coupon Prez, buying votes by relaxing welfare requirements, why your Bishop Glenn Beck called him a racist and a man angry at whites, they assert his political backbone is a reflection by his father Kenyan anti-colonial views (read Mau-Mau).
Have you pathetic losers no shame and dignity to think and act like humans?
Zap Rowsdower
Obama, I'm glad he got reelected so he can be impeached.
kj227: How about holding your breath until that happens??? We'll be one less tea bagger.
He keeps up his chicago style politics it may happen sooner than later
Why did you hide your comment here and not reply to my original post? Pu$$y. Now back to the crack pipe with you.
Here is a good example of why the Cons lost. Jabberign monkeys make more sense than Fox News victims with brains of mush.
"Obama slams GOP criticism of UN Ambassador Rice over Benghazi attack as 'outrageous'"
But says that the blatant lies and cover up are all O.K......................................
Not to mention his campaign smears !
First off, let me say, (for the record,) I'm independent, and I think both parties are idiots! I love how obama threw rice "under the bus!" I usually don't listen to the press conferences, but, in this case, I couldn't resist.........Wow, what a bag of wind....is this guy serious? He just said the White house instructed rice to go on T.V with the info they gave her about Benghazi. Now, we know the prez knew all along that it was a terrorist attack.....so, that means that he purposely set her up to lie to the American public! He definitely "leads from behind!" What a creep!
Pinch ever heard of Colin Powell making the case for an illegal and devastating war at the UN? Get a life, you are as independent as mi private parts are from the rest of me
sounds like that might help you or at least the ge--------
How dare anyone attack one of Hussein's czars! We should all just shut up, sit back and let Hussein take care of us........like his 47%. NOT
I wonder how the Navy really feels about McCain. To lose 23 jets was understandable, but to lose 5 is unconscionable. He survived prison, so that makes him a hero?
Any person that served in the military and was in a warzone IS A HERO and if you think different then you should leave this country
Talk about sour grapes. These people are laughable and they don't care how there fake outrage looks. They're outraged alright...that they lost. LMAO
and still furious at the people without walking around sense that elected him
The president is the one who sent her to the talk shows and told her what to say. He did not have the courage to go on himself. If she made up the lies or just repeated the lies she was told to say don't matter. Knowing she was not telling the truth does not do her character any good.
So she acted with " the best information available" just like Pres. Bush did. What's good for the goose..........
lol..yea. best info available. Then Leon Pinheada says we didn't have the info to act.
Next year for Halloween Obama can play the cowardly liar. I mean lion.
Are the Sen. complaints anything like those of Libby & Rove or conducive to "a junket for her husband???' the answer the American people got/were giving coincides with what the people were seeing as well. The CIA & intelligence community gave the info they had in real time & to have people who are so apparently biased to the administration, the president (those who signed norquist pledges to be subversive have no room at all to sit in judgement of anyone - PERIOD!!!)
I looking at the situation could see two simultaneous events - 1) PROTEST - the protest was legitimate as the movie or whatever the heck it was was meant to inflame & incite middle eastern people's into violence!
2) Insurgency & terrorist considering they need no reason to act a fool - hiding in plain site gave them much cover - John McCain as a Vet & prisoner of war should know this to be true!
The real time events in Libya were also followed by the protest of the people regarding the violence & deaths, as well as them going into danger to stop the violence that surged even after the wrong doers had killed Americans.It was their aim so should WE as Americans considering the part Congress played in the tragedy think that they conspired with these lithesome individuals cause they don't like Obama!!!!
Looking for conspiracy BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU WOULD DO is not a legitimate complaint toward the President or Rice. Do your jobs & leave investigations to those who's job it is - for four years you have collected paychecks for work you haven't done IT'S HIGH TIME THE FINGER POINTING WERE DIRECTED WHERE IT BELONGED - let's talk about the cutting of funds to embassies & consulates or is it that your part (like Bush in the economy) can't be talked about??? As the President was here an not in Libya & you had just as much to do with what happened there as anyone perhaps more as you callously cut the funds & knowing that the intelligence community was the front line for information regarding what was/had transpired YOUR CHILDISH ARGUMENTS STILL LEAVE MUCH TO BE DESIRED AS FAR AS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!
Really the ATF agent who had the only gun walking incident of all ot operation gun runner & fast & furious was given a pass for blowing the whistle on his own malfeasance & now you can not accept that terrorist took advantage of your funding cuts & the malicious actions of a so called film-maker to use a demonstration for wrongdoing & you call it a conspiracy, yet when a man wrote about no WMD's and two others (probably more) decided to commit a treasonous action of outing a CIA Agent where was the outcry??? No one stepped up for Valarie or Joe until it was made clear & no one paid for the scientist who as her operatives risked all while the CIA & Washington played tiddly winks REAL TIME FOR REAL - NOT SOME MADE UP BOOGIE MAN STORY MEANT TO SMEAR A PRESIDENT you apparently don't like so won't trust & don't recognize as your boss any more so then YOU DO the AMERICAN PEOPLEas you are HARLOTS OF PURITY!! LMAO
Mr. McCain you of all of them SICKEN ME THE MOST CAUSE YOU KNOW BETTER AT LEAST i THOUGHT SO UNTIL jACK ABRMOFF & 2000 ELECTION!!!
You sicken most of the people on here
Good my time here has not been waste LEMMING FOR PURITY!!!!
PRESIDENT OBAMA for those who have never been here's something you should know! I am not taking sides no matter what you think. Don't be afraid to read it! Don't hate! I know it's hard but do try to keep an open mind.
However here is something no one and by no one I mean everybody on the Repub side that wants to use it against Obama and are also willing to do or say anything against him or his Ad...
min about how those situations are played out.
Now I am really not defending him or anyone else. I do know how a lot of how those things are looked at. For security purposes we had to go over and even invent every situation you could dream up in case of a riot in any of the prisons I worked in. I understand the concepts of an angry violent crowd and how things can escalate way beyond proportion.
I am sure it is true that the Taliban instigated the unfortunate act of violence resulting in the deaths of those people anything like that is truly horrendous. But initially they Taliban weren’t involved. It was a very touchy and volatile situation similar to the marches (as they were called) back in the sixties protesting Viet Nam. They too were a powder keg and some of them became very no extremely violent. Do you remember Kent State University were the police just shot into the crowd and killed four students? Certainly they knew better but something set them off and they went over the edge.
I this this as being the same way to an extent. People like the Taliban are opportunist. They saw that they could easily manipulate the crowd into taking it to the next level and that is exactly what happened. No one absolutely no one could have predicted that they were in the crowd or that they would incite those people who were already at the mob level mentality to go over the wall so to speak. Not the President, not Hillary, not Collin Powell or anyone else, unless and only if they had prior knowledge that the Taliban was participating in the mob. Think of the old cowboy movies and how they would all be protesting the guy that had just got locked for shooting someone even if it was a fair gun fight in the saloon. All it took was one person to holler “lynch him” and everyone just went stone cold frigging nuts and we know what happened next. They would end the show and you had to watch next week, sorry I couldn’t help but add a bit of humor.
I have looked into some of the things involved with this though. I keep hearing people on your side hollering about there was a drone in the air, they could have sent that to help. And it is true there was a “surveillance drone” in the air observing just like they had at the other major outbreaks. This was not a combat ready piece of hardware and besides they are used for surveillance and precision bombing runs what did they expect to have them drop a bomb in the crowd and take out the not only the crowd but the compound as well and we would have killed those people as well as the protestors. It would also have been an act of war. Is this what we needed? Is this what the people on the Repub side want or wanted? Aren’t we in enough @!$%# without adding to it? before he took office a US citizen couldn’t hardly travel overseas for a holiday. Bush had literally destroyed our welcome everywhere. The State Dept. issued warnings every week about where you could go halfway safely. But now we can pretty much go anywhere without having to hire a body guard or have a team of merc’s with you lol.
So when the President said the next that we would investigate to see if it was an act of terror because it was some time after before he made it clear to the press and the public that in fact it was an act of terror against the US I personally having the knowledge that I have do not have a problem with. What I do have a problem with are the @!$%#s that have no idea what they are talking about making all these claims that they cannot verify. They are probably the same ones that run around shouting about and that America is the best (and it is) yeah America is the best. We have the best medical, we have the best this and the best that and it hurts me and shames to that we do not. We are ranked 37th for health care for our population. Which is really strange because 37% of the population are classified as functionally illiterate, strange huh? We are ranked and this may have change, 17th in education. But what really irks me is the fact that the @!$%#s that make the most noise have never even been out of the US! Canada and Mexico don’t count.
Sorry, I left this out. What did George do when the came and told him about the towers? Sure he could have excused himself and said apologetically that he had to leave but truly what could he have done. Could he have caught the towers before they fell? Could he wave a magic wand and everyone get up and go home no? well neither could Obama.
Yawn I went to sleep half way through They knew what was going on with out giving out too much classified info you shoul think what ADT and other sentry companies provide in real time you can see anything in your house any where all you have to is push a button wE ARE TALKING THE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY ANYWHERE ON EARTH They knew what they were seeing and they knew it was not movie goers they probably have some great still shots with pictures So they knew and refused to acknowledge they are wrong and should be investigated
Susan Rice, the epitomy of stupid. She goes on five different Sunday morning shows and says that the attack in Benghazi was the result of mob action because of protests against an anti muslim film. Even tho her handlers knew that there was no riot or mob action, but a direct planned attack.
Bottom line, McCain and the rest are right. This woman should be blocked from any other job. Obama should not even put her name before Congress. Susan Rice is a joke.
I will keep it civil. I would not trust anything said by Lindsay Graham nor would I accord him any professional or personal respect. As for McCain, there's someone who is way past their prime and should be put out to pasture.
Boy, I would hate to know what you call being un-civil if this is your idea of being civil. Maybe you took your lessons from Obama during his campaign, but then he is a politician and that is the want of politicians. Susan Rice is still either stupid or a dolt for going on 5 Sunday morning shows with the same B.S. that was given her and either knowing it was a lie or too stupid to know it was a lie.
You tell them B.O. since you ran about the dirtiest campaign in history Yea you tell them Might want to look at your past bud !
Yes, he did those hanging chairs, nooses, hanging life sized dolls, the "put the white back in the white house- t-shirts, all the nigg* language, the posters of nooses etc. WAS the dirties campaign every & was wasted on his challenger & his LEMMINGS/SHOW PONIES FOR PURITY & many NAZI SYMPATHIZERS let us take a moment of silence for the self admitted (lying in the middle of a big heart drawn int he sand of the SOUTH OF FRANCE - not jungles of South-East Asia professing his love mission) DRAFT DODGER - SHAMEFUL!!!!
AHhhhhh...here we go again! GOP'ers creating another boogey man and the conspiracy theories that follow! Watergate style hearings? Give me a break....They are so transparent it is nauseating. They ALWAYS cry foul, shout and stomp their feet when they lose (loose?? huh?) or don't get their way. John McCain used to be a reasonable statesman (Lindsay Graham-never!), but he has turned into one of the Senate's biggest crackpots! Time to retire J.M. Your righteous indignation is the battlecry of America's party of the past!
No, Obama created this one all by himself................
What is transparent is the lies and deceit of this corrupt and inept administration.
Be careful what you wish for! Mr.Obama,they are going after you.You have a lot of explaining to do and hiding behind the White House isn't going to cut it!
It should be obvious to anyone with a little sense that all this talk about a cover up is bull. Mr. Obama has said he wants all the facts to come out about Benghazi and isn't trying to shut down an investigation by Congress. He has always maintained that he wants to gather all the facts and address weaknesses that are inherent in trying to maintain adequate security for our diplomats and people trying to do our nation's work in dangerous places. Instead of letting the facts be brought to light people like Mr. McCain and Graham scream cover up and accuse the president of trying to hide the facts and act as if the president is stone walling when the facts are quite the opposite. The president said again today that he welcomes hearings and is interested in finding the truth. When the investigation comes to the conclusion that there was no cover up and the information coming from the intelligence community simply reflected what they thought was going on at the time they gave their reports which the White House commented on in real time I hope the Senators are big enough men to apologize but I'm not holding my breath.
You just keep on believing that
I love my president! Senator John McCain is a bitter, fat old man. And Hilary Clinton should take the fall and step down.
Four more years of Chicago style leadership.
Where was all this passion when our countrymen were being Butchered?
It was in Vegas, campaigning!
This is about two hateful old white guys who can't stand the fact the lost again to a Black president who now may name as Secretary of State a black woman they tried to slander once upon a time and failed.
Graham and McCain are the ugly past and are exhibits 1 and 2 in case for the "Why the GOP lost the election."
Their comments were slanderous, false and poisonous. Obama should demand they show their "facts" about their bogus over-up claims and watch them twist in the wind.
Name Rice and shove it down their throats. These two Republicans deserve to be hammered.
Oh and I feel compelled to remind most of you that McCain is ex-military and he should know this unless someone else is puhing him to say the things he said in this ...speech.
McCain is the one who crashed a plane on a carrier and started a fire that killed and injured many. I believe his father was an Admiral at the time, and he immediately pulled rank to get his son off the ship to avoid the consequences. McCain was not a very good pilot, and as a politician he is no better. Then there is his backing of Sarah Palin as a VP candidate - and that prettty much says it all.
Being a US Naval Aviator is not a easy job I do not like eveything Senator McCain does. That fire aboard the USS Forrestal was not started by him it was a result of safety violations that triggered a sympathetic explosion from rockets. And he was pulled from his A-4 by a Chief Petty Officer. Second he was shot down in area that had the most formidable Air defense in the world at that time broke his back during the ejection and was bayoneted in the groin then pulled by his boots thorough and ox field. I give any service member respect for surviving a POW Camp let alone serving during the Vietnam Conflict what did Clinton do for the War effort?
Says who - was there an investigation, committee or conspiracy de-bunking???? He also sold his soul to the GOP & got nothing in exchange BUT CHAPPED LIPS!!!
YOU nut jobs (can't have it both ways) always talking out of both sides of your red-necks!
Clinton did more than Romney as there are no pictures of him on a (wink mormon mission of love) beach in France - where were the godless in that scenerio? WE know where they are now!!!!
I was stating the facts about the USS Forrestal incident that's all! And I stand by statement what did Clinton do for the War Effort?
What about the incident where he crashed his AD-6 into Corpus Christi Bay? He claimed engine failure. A Navy investigation found no engine failure. McCain also had 3 crashes during his early career as a Navy pilot. That's not a good record by any measure. If you are going to state facts - state them all!
Are you a pilot?
You Republicans just don't get it. You just got slaughtered by President Obama. He has a mandate. The electorate has spoken. Republicans need to get their act together or let's leave them behind. It is time to move this country forward. Come on Republicans, get it together.
Oh, we "get it."
Consistantly in the Azz from Obama.........
A mandate? Wow who have you been listening to Rachel MAdcow? Guess you really did not analyze the results.
An imcumbent candidate, with the media in his back pocket, with every talk show host kissing his butt and the ladies on The View assault anyone who dared run against the black president, Clinton the pimp campaigning for him and yet obam barely garners the popular vote and you call that a mandate?
Go play Angry Birds on your obama-phone and let the adults talk.
Listen, fox news idiot with the mushy brain, you lost. Drop the bubble of GOP conspiracy theories and lying Obama hatred and join us in the real world.
I know your hatred needs an outlet, so lies about Benghazi is all you losers have left.
You grumpy dolts are the past. Get over it and go out with class, not like lying, wild-eyed goobers.
wrong again justr like your vote