Stewart Grills Susan Rice On Obama Administration’s ‘Confusing’ Mishandling Of Benghazi
Jon Stewart talked with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice tonight in an interview that mostly focused on the Benghazi scandal that Rice got caught up in after comments she made on a number of Sunday shows last September. Stewart grilled Rice on the mixed messages provided by the Obama administration and intelligence community, and whether the administration was more efficient at explaining after the fact than preventing the attack.
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Rice said that she was only asked to go on the Sunday shows after Hillary Clinton did not feel up to doing it herself, explaining that she shared the best intelligence they had at the time, although it was incorrect about the fact that there were protests involved in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Stewart highlighted how Republicans are so eager for more information that they are willing to hold Obama’s Cabinet nominees.
Rice clarified that there have been a number of hearings and meetings, as well as tons of documents provided to members of Congress. Stewart joked that maybe it was just too many documents for them to handle. But then Stewart got serious, saying that while there is a degree of “malevolence” in the GOP’s obsession with Benghazi, he still found it odd that the Obama administration and intelligence community were sending out mixed messages to the public about when and what changes were made to the Benghazi intelligence.
Stewart told Rice there was a remarkable amount of “confusion” in the administration. Rice acknowledged there was some confusion, but bemoaned how Congress spent months trying to find out the origins of talking points and not enough time on the deaths of fallen colleagues.
In the second part of the interview, Stewart brought up Clinton’s testimony, in which she said that she did not see the letter sent by the late ambassador Christopher Stevens requesting more security in Benghazi. Stewart asked Rice why it appeared the administration is more coordinated and organized on the explanation than the prevention. Rice cited the accountability review board that is trying to focus on what went wrong and how to increase security in the future.
Rice told Stewart the controversy has become overpoliticized. Stewart asked Rice what she would say to people claiming there is a cover-up, offering to let her respond with the words of a sailor. Rice said “they’re dead wrong” and “doing a disservice to those we lost.”
Watch the interview below, courtesy of Comedy Central:
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