In a parting interview with The Boston Globe, incoming secretary of state John Kerry said that President Obama tapped him for the position a full week before Rice withdrew her name from consideration due to criticism over her handling of the Benghazi attack. “He called me and said, ‘You’re my choice. I want you to do this.’ He asked me to keep it quiet. I did. I sat on it,” Kerry told the Globe.
Rice was considered the administration’s top pick for the position, and, after her withdrawal, the job is thought to have fallen to Kerry.
Asked to respond to Kerry’s remarks during today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment. “I don’t have conversations to read out to you,” Carney said.