Susan Rice Says She Didn’t Intend To Mislead On Benghazi

Embattled U.N. Ambassador tells Republican opponents initial assessment was flawed. “There was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi.”

Image by Joe Skipper / Reuters

WASHINGTON — U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice defended herself from Republican criticism Tuesday afternoon after meeting with Senate Republicans, saying she never meant to provide a false impression of the Sept. 11 Beghazi attack.

Rice and Acting CIA Director Michael Morell met with Senators McCain, Graham, and Ayotte about her comments in the aftermath of the attack, which provided the impression that it was not an organized terror attack by a group with ties to al-Qaeda, but the result of a spontaneous demonstration.

“In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi,” Rice said in a statement. “While we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the Administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the Administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved.”