WASHINGTON: Another Republican senator said Wednesday she would not vote to confirm UN envoy Susan Rice as US secretary of state without more answers about her role in the Benghazzi affair.
The embattled Rice met for a second straight day with Republican senators to try to mollify conservatives threatening to block her confirmation if President Barack Obama nominates her to replace Hillary Clinton.
But Senator Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, joined other Republicans who have sharply criticized Rice for portraying the attack on the US mission in Libya September 11 as stemming from a protest against an anti-Islam film.
“I still have many questions that remain unanswered,” said Collins after her hour-long meeting with Rice.
“I continue to be troubled by the fact that the UN ambassador decided to play a political role at the height of a contentious presidential election campaign by agreeing to go on the Sunday shows to present the administration’s position,” she said.
Rice met separately with Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee.
Collins’ remarks echoed those of her more conservative fellow Republican Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte, who met with Rice on Tuesday and expressed similar reservations about her.
The controversy centers of Rice’s remarks made on Sunday talk shows five days after the assault on the US mission in Benghazi, in which ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Using talking points provided by the Central Intelligence Agency, Rice said it was the government’s “best assessment” that the assault appeared to have started with a “spontaneous” reaction against an amateur anti-Muslim video.
In a statement after Tuesday’s meeting, Rice admitted for the first time that the intelligence community’s talking points “were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi.”
Collins acknowledged that Rice “made those conflicting assertions (when) there was conflicting evidence, that is true.” But the senator said that others, including Libyan President Mohamed al-Megaryef, knew early on that the attack was a pre-meditated act of terror.
Asked if she would support Rice’s nomination if she were nominated to be secretary of state, Collins said, “I would need to have additional information before I could support her nomination.”
“There are many different players in this, and there’s much yet to be learned. So I think it would be premature for me to reach that judgment now.”
When asked about veteran Senator John Kerry, the powerful chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and another potential nominee for the position, Collins suggested he might make a safer pick as secretary of state.
“I think John Kerry would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues,” she said.
Republican 'troubled' by Rice role in Benghazi http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
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