Susan Rice, former U.N. Ambassador and current National Security Advisor for President Obama, sat down with CNN’s Candy Crowley and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, June 1 to discuss a variety of foreign policy topics, yet Stephanopoulos refused to ask his guest about the latest surrounding the Benghazi investigation.
Rice appeared on both This Week and State of the Union to talk about the decision by the United States to release 5 prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the Taliban releasing an American soldier held captive and only CNN's Candy Crowley brought up Benghazi to Ambassador Rice.
While both Stephanopoulos and Crowley pushed back against Rice over whether the United States should have released five suspected terrorists, only Crowley brought up Rice’s most controversial aspect of her tenure working for President Obama; her appearance on the Sunday talk shows following the Benghazi terrorist attack.
Crowley asked Rice “Looking back to those talking points on the Sunday talk shows that have been so much discussed, were you ever angry that you were not given full information or that someone didn't check back? Did you ever feel like you were put out there with bad information?”
While Stephanopoulos never asked Rice about Benghazi, immediately after he concluded the interview, the ABC host referenced Benghazi during a preview of his upcoming interview with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX): “And we will hear from Ted Cruz next. We’ll get his reaction to the Bergdhal deal, Hillary’s Benghazi defiance, his presidential plans and why his party had this Duck Dynasty star at their leadership conference.”
During the interview with Cruz, the ABC host brought up Benghazi and hyped how “We’ve seen the first chapter of Hillary Clinton’s memoir Hard Choices it’s about Benghazi, pretty defiant chapter.” The subject of Benghazi came up again during the panel discussion but only focused on how it will impact Clinton’s political future.
See relevant transcript below.
CNN
State of the Union with Candy Crowley
June 1, 2014
9:10 a.m. Eastern
CANDY CROWLEY: And finally, I have to ask before you leave, as you know, there’s a new committee that going to look into Benghazi. I know you said my interest in Benghazi now is making sure that everywhere is more safe for our diplomats. Looking back to those talking points on the Sunday talk shows that have been so much discussed, were you ever angry that you were not given full information or that someone didn't check back? Did you ever feel like you were put out there with bad information?
SUSAN RICE: Candy, we've been through all of this and I've had the opportunity to discuss this at great length. The fact of the matter is, I'm now serving as the president's National Security Adviser. I have all the issues that you can imagine that are on the world stage on our plate. My primary responsibility and sole interest and that of the president is insuring that Americans around the world who are serving in dangerous places are safe. And we have embassies, we have diplomats, we have servicemen and women as we've been discussing, who are doing the business of the United States at great risk. And my hope is that Congress will focus on how we can assure we have the resources and ability to keep them safe going forward.
CROWLEY: If asked would you testify?
RICE: I'm not going to speculate on something that hasn't happened or what Congress might do or not do. I'm focused every day Candy on doing my job on behalf of the American people and trying to keep our people safe.
CROWLEY: The president's National Security Adviser Susan Rice, it’s good to see you.
RICE: Good to be with you.
