Sen. Lindsey Graham said National Security Adviser Susan Rice may wish otherwise, but her mantra about the Benghazi attacks stemming from an anti-Muslim video has “totally collapsed” and she ought to just admit it and even resign.
“She’s frustrated this won’t go away,” Mr. Graham said, Fox News reported. “She’s frustrated that she appeared on national television and told a story about Benghazi that has absolutely collapsed.”
Ms. Rice spent days after the attacks making the media circuit to explain how four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, were killed on Sept. 11, 2012, because of a brief YouTube video that angered Muslims.
On top of that, Ms. Rice also said the United States “obviously did have a strong security presence” at the Benghazi facility — a statement later proven wrong, Newsmax reported.
Ms. Rice, in her then-role as U.S. ambassador, was asked repeatedly on national talk shows — even five days after the attack — if the United States should have maintained a larger security team at the facility, especially given the terrorist activity that had swept through Benghazi.
Her response, on Sept. 16, on “Fox News Sunday” to Chris Wallace: “Well, we obviously did have a strong security presence. And unfortunately, two of the four Americans who died in Benghazi were there to provide security.”
But Mr. Graham said he’s tired of all the misleading, and flat-out untrue, rhetoric on Benghazi. And he said somebody should be fired.
“[The Obama administration is] completely incompetent, or they were misleading [Rice] about the level of security because we were six weeks before an election, or she made it up on her own,” Mr. Graham said, Newsmax reported. “And if she just made this up and talked about the level of security without any information and just wanted to portray strong security, then she should resign.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.