2016 presidential hopeful Rand Paul blasted the recent promotions of Susan Rice and Victoria Nuland, both of whom played an integral role in the administration’s response to last year’s Benghazi attacks, which left four Americans dead.
“Both Ms. Nuland as well as well as Ambassador Rice were intimately involved with a misleading campaign or a misdirection campaign after Benghazi,” Paul said, “and I think really you shouldn’t promote someone who has been purposely misleading the American public.” He added, “I think it’s appalling,” and “neither one of them should be to their position.”
President Obama this week appointed Rice, the U.N. ambassador criticized for blaming the Benghazi attack on outrage over an anti-Muslim YouTube video, to the position of National Security Adviser. Late last month, he nominated Victoria Nuland, the State Department spokeswoman accused of altering the official talking points on the Benghazi attack to remove any reference to al-Qaeda and terrorism, to the position of assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs.
While Paul conceded that the Senate cannot prevent the appointment of Rice as National Security Adviser — the position is not confirmable by the Senate — he said that he will take a close look at Nuland’s qualifications. The Kentucky senator maintained that the administration’s “elaborate misdirection campaign” in the wake of the Benghazi attack was intended to distract attention from the fact that the CIA in Benghazi was dealing arms to the Syrian rebels.
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