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Thank you, Mr. President. Senator John McCain and Senator Lindsey Graham both said today
that they want to have Watergate-style hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi,
and said that if you nominate Susan Rice to be Secretary of State, they will do everything
in their power to block her nomination. As Senator Graham said, he simply doesn’t trust
Ambassador Rice after what she said about Benghazi. I’d like your reaction to that.
And would those threats deter you from making a nomination like that?
Well, first of all, I’m not going to comment at this point on various nominations that
I’ll put forward to fill out my Cabinet for the second term. Those are things that
are still being discussed. But let me say specifically about Susan Rice,
she has done exemplary work. She has represented the United States and our interests in the
United Nations with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace.
As I’ve said before, she made an appearance at the request of the White House in which
she gave her best understanding of the intelligence that had been provided to her. If Senator
McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after
me. And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. 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.
And we’re after an election now. I think it is important for us to find out exactly
what happened in Benghazi, and I’m happy to cooperate in any ways that Congress wants.
We have provided every bit of information that we have, and we will continue to provide
information. And we’ve got a full-blown investigation, and all that information will
be disgorged to Congress.
And 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. 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. And should I choose, if I think that she would be the best person to serve America
in the capacity of the State Department, then I will nominate her. That's not a determination
that I’ve made yet.
On 9/11, as Commander-in-Chief, did you issue any orders to try to protect their lives?
Ahh, Ed, I’ll address the families not through.