please welcome back to the program ambassador susan rice.ambassador -- [cheers and applause] how are you? >> i'm great how are you? >> jon: doing very well. last i saw you, you were epitomizing the focal point of opposition rage towards the administration. how does that feel? >> feels good to be out of the hot spot. >> jon: it was. so you had to go on the sunday shows on i guess it was september 16, after the september 11 attack in ben ghazi and -- benghazi. why did you have to do that? you are the ambassador of the united nationses? shouldn't it be someone else? >> actually, jon i spent maybe a sunday doing the shows. secretary clinton was asked to do it. having been through quite a pretty intense week with the loss of our colleagues in benghazi, the violence against our embassies all over the arab and muslim world and that friday having to join president obama in grieving the families of fallen colleagues and bringing their bodies back. i was asked as i've been in the past and i said i would. >> jon: they hand you a -- they give you a shee

ambassador, susan rice, who had so wanted clinton's job. clinton's departure had the energy of a campaign rally. as she left, some women were shouting "2016." an hour later on capitol hill, john kerry, already protected by state department security, was sworn in as the 68th secretary of state by supreme court justice elena kagan. he had said goodbye yesterday, causing a small stir by telling "the boston globe" president obama offered him the job a week before. before susan rice with drew on "rock center." >> did you want the job? >> i would have been very honored to serve in that job, just as i'm delighted to do what i'm doing. >> reporter: tonight, kerry told nbc news in a statement that he had been overly casual in his comment and clarified the president did not formally offer him that job until december after rice had withdrawn. he wants to focus on the middle east and climate change, but as clinton learned, he may not be able to choose his crises. >> andrea mitchell after another busy day at the state department. thanks. >>> it's that t

susan rice wasn't a battle worth fighting.t i said now and obviously i'm biased, but i think history has born out that i was right. what i said then was it's not about the nominee. they are looking for certain fights and they will go at anyone, chuck hagel, a conservative red state republican to them is as objectionable and terrible and bengha benghazi-related as susan rice. the president should learn well from this experience. should nominate fewer republicans, should pick the original picks whoever they may be, susan rice is still on the team. she can be picked later -- >> and stick with them. >> they will fill biser anyone. stick with them and ride right over them. >> i'm not sure about that, ari, because this is not an instructive moment for democrats. this is an instructive moment for republicans. we have seen republicans in the last year offend women, immigrants, african-americans, on down the line, and here they're taking a position that's just odious to most americans which is attacking somebody who had nothing to do w

ambassador susan rice is saying about critics critics who accused the white house of covering up the tack in benghazi. ambassador rice took herself out of the running for secretary of state before she could be nominated. some republican senators say they're holding up chuck hagel's nomination for defense secretary in order to get more answers about libya. republicans also asking for more information from john brennan. he's the president's nominee for c.i.a. director. catherine herridge has all of this tonight. what are we hearing from am bass dor rice? >> thank you, bill and good evening. in her first interview since pulling out of consideration for secretary of state, ambassador susan rice suggests she's the victim, blaming her demonstration spun out of control comments on the intelligence community. >> i shared the best information that our intelligence community had at the time and they provided the talking points that i used and they were wrong in one respect. we learned subsequently and that is that there wasn't, in fact a protest. >> secretary panetta testified he knew benghazi

criticism of susan rice at the possibility of she would be announced of chuck hagel. that. is this is ludicrously unfair of course it is of course it is. but that's also part of the reality of living in a political environment so six years on g. think iran is still after a nuclear weapon in your opinion now the judgment that we made was that it was a political decision to halt the weaponization portions of its program it continued to fizzle material fizzle material was the pacing element is that that the. at the time required to go from physical material to what. we did it was shorter than a dime fissile material. on it but they halted it. for. terminology we used was because of international scrutiny and pressure but that sense it was a political decision it was a matter of a technical problem. or a change in geo political situation they still lived in a tough neighborhood. that they could turn this program back on again at any time and we also said in that release part we weren't sure we would know if they turned it back on a more about intelligence is the intelligence go

many people assumed kerry was the second choice for the job after ambassador susan rice. kerry said this, quote, he called me actually a week before susan rice got out of the thing. he calendar 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. remember, a few weeks before susan rice pulled out several senators said they would block her confirmation because of her comments on the benghazi tragedy. >>> a key republican said he'll back chuck haggle. nebraska senator johanns is the second to commit. his decision followed a private meeting hagel would defend israel. hagel himself a republican and former nib senator was criticized for his testimony. he's expected to make more calls on capitol hill. >>> top catholic leader in los angeles has relieved retired cardinal roger mahoney of public and administrative duties. archbishop gomez says he's punishing his predecessor for miss handling sex abuse claims, although some call it an empty gesture. 1,000 released documents indicate 192 clergy in cases going by 80 years. mahoney sna

knew that it was not going to be hers. >> i don't know when susan rice knew it, but, of course, the white house's objective in all of this would be to get out of a bumpy, awkward situation as smoothly as possible. if they were going to do that, they would want to know who the replacement was, have the replacement in place, make sure all of that was handled, as they handled her exit. it's not that surprising that a few days before we heard about it, they were working on it. >> amy, the issues that he now faces, we had the suicide bombing today in turkey. iran announce says that it is ramping up its centrifuges at its main nuclear facility, newly re-elected benjamin netanyahu with a smaller mandate and perhaps a little bit handcuffed in terms of his aeblt to take on iran, but this week showing that he is not at all reluctant to go into syria and take out what we believe was a convoy of missiles headed hezbollah. this is -- these are only some of the issues of the cyber attacks that have been attributed to china against a number of corporations aring, including now the "new york times"

who took the references to al qaeda out of the talking points given to susan rice? we still don't know. richard burns, saxby chambliss discovered e-mails discussing change the talking points. i think her story after what we found out was incredibly misleading. i want to know what our president did. what did he do as commander in chief? did he ever pick up the phone and call anybody? i think this is the stuff the country needs to know. we pushed back against bush. we asked for rumsfeld to resign after iraq went to shambles. chaim not going to stop until we get to the bottom of it. >> schieffer: all right. >> if it hadn't been for the investigations and your show we would still think it was a video that caused a riot and the senator was hands on. >> schieffer: senator reed, i have to ask you, can senator graham do this? >> this is unpress dented unwarranted to stop or attempt to try to stop the nomination of a sopped. we need the men and women-- the men and women of the department of defense need a secretary of defense. he has been supported by madeleine albright bren

what have they done for us really since then a number two is susan rice nomination, when susan rice wasnominated for secretary of state for whole black political class closed ranks around her as if she was some kind of martyr or as susan rice the undersecretary of african affairs in the clinton administration. she was a lobbyist for ethiopians and rwandans and our policy has been to give military aid to every country in africa. we have completely militarized our africa policy. we give military aid to every country on the continent except -- in libya and it's the only place where our foreign policy is totally integrated with our diplomacy. that is what africom is and all the wars there in the congo, six or 7 million people have died since the mid-90s and susan rice had been -- in blood. >> host: all right bruce, lot on the table there. randall robinson. >> guest: let me be brief about susan rice. i have been troubled by those associations that you have described. i don't know the extent of which the black political class has closed ranks or did close ranks around her. i have been out of

what have they done for us really since then a number two is susan rice nomination, when susan rice wasnominated for secretary of state for whole black political class closed ranks around her as if she was some kind of martyr or as susan rice the undersecretary of african affairs in the clinton administration. she was a lobbyist for ethiopians and rwandans and our policy has been to give military aid to every country in africa. we have completely militarized our africa policy. we give military aid to every country on the continent except -- in libya and it's the only place where our foreign policy is totally integrated with our diplomacy. that is what africom is and all the wars there in the congo, six or 7 million people have died since the mid-90s and susan rice had been -- in blood. >> host: all right bruce, lot on the table there. randall robinson. >> guest: let me be brief about susan rice. i have been troubled by those associations that you have described. i don't know the extent of which the black political class has closed ranks or did close ranks around her. i have been out of

susan rice. there were senators who said the same thing.ld up any nomination for anything because we don't like susan rice. all of this is unprecedented. it's unprecedented obstructionism. and i think they get a pass from the press. if you read the reports today this is what graham is going to do this is the filibuster that they might do and then there is one sentence, oh, this has never been done in the history of the united states. >> john: they've done it before to this president. why are john mccain and sendly graham are so you ubiquitous? >> they want to block everything. what they're doing now is the equivalent of being on the schoolyard playing ball and they say we're not playing until billy gives me some of his ice cream. >> john: it's the screw you guys i'm going home. why are the sunday talk shows so awful? >> that's a great question. because they want access. they want the big names. it's all about ratings. let's be honest. that's what it's about. >> cenk: but does john mccain own a jet pac that he goes to these things every week

he famously said, "i don't trust susan rice over benghazi." >> susan collins voted to move this thing forward, but she says she will vote against his nomination. susan collins -- >> that is party discipline. she did not say disciplined -- >> is she worried about a challenge? >> i don't think she is worried about a challenge. the leadership wants to stick it to obama, they if you chuck hagel as a heretic, and if the democrat had the same view as technical, which john kerry did, and he only had three votes against him -- >> on fox news, john mccain recalled that hagel was very rough on bush, said he was the worst president we ever had, that the surge in iraq was the worst mistake since vietnam, and that is why republicans are down on him. >> john mccain has been shifting positions this week. this thing walks like a filibuster, quacks like a filibuster. it is the filibuster. i would like to point out a couple of the facts -- secretary of defense bill cohen, republican. secretary of defense of bob gates, republican. secretary of defense melvin laird, republican national. security adviser

yoyou haveve already had to deal wiwith susan rice. >> this is how you treatat your friends, i dodo not? >> hwill >> thank you. we will be back after the break. >> you can follow us on twitter. this week on our facebook page, "washiton business report" will have links to trends and some of the best super bowl

and i remember when they were killing susan rice unfairly in my opinion. the thought was they really were after susan rice because they wanted john kerry and so that kerry could -- the seat would go to scott brown or republican. now brown is out, they don't have a clear shot at the seat. this has to help president obama. scott brown not running is a big win for the president if the republicans can't come up with a comparable candidate. >> no, i think that's right. i don't think they'll ever take a seat for granted in massachusetts again after 2009 and 20 10, rather. but i do think it's a win for democrats. i don't know whether he's announced anything is former governor bill weld who just moved back up there and can run as a kind of independent republican. he's pretty up predictable. if he doesn't run, i think it's going to be hard for them to come up with smnl to take that seat. but, you know, scott brown came out of nowhere, so be ware. >> it was interesting. he released a statement that i think put the president in ra good light. scott brown said in his

wonder why obama wasted time with susan rice who was not qualified if we had somebody like john kerry when he was his whole career could rise to secretary of state and check cable a wonderful nomination and the criticism of him frankly is silly. people are throwing fat around so loosely it is an embarrassment to see accusations because once he said jewish lobby instead of israeli lobby. he said that on many occasions so i understand what the debate is all about. i think it will slither away. he is a sound man with qualifications you would need. was very disappointed with obama and they betrayed us the see a director ricky-tick care of that himself taking himself out of the game giving adultery a bad day. [laughter] was obama thinking taking the active duty force toward general was strung policy positions on the key issues that officers have to grapple with? economic of a better scenario for localization to have pretorius at the cia that is now with truman had in mind when he created it he did not want in the hands of policy makers certainly not military policy-makers but it was create

or did he send susan rice to cover them up?dience reacts] [laughter] you are just as upset as i am. i can tell. it's bad! but folks, water-hazard-gate-- trademark-- is just the tip of the secretberg. not gonna trademark that one. [laughter] this whole episode makes me realize just how little we know about what the president is doing every moment. because i have it on good authority that multiple times a day he locks himself alone inside a small, tiled room. [laughter] sometimes he enters with great urgency, only to emerge later with a look of serenity. [laughter] what does he do in there? all we know is that by the time he leaves the sudoku is finished. [laughter] i know -- i know. he's apoll gifts say it's all innocent but folks this does not pass the smell test. [audience reacts] again, i'm angry as well. mr. president, open that door to the press corps, otherwise i can only assume you are so arrogantly anti-democratic that you are in there sitting on some sort of thrown. [ laughter ] we'll be right back. [cheers and applause

senators get the information on what happened in benghazi including who changed the talking points susan rice the sunday morning shows so we can be sure no americans are harmed again by the talking points. >> whatever was said based on information provided by the intelligence community on a series of sunday shows bears no relevance on the ultimate questions of what happened in benghazi. there's an obvious political obsession over a series of talk points that again bears no relevance on the essential issues here. >> just a lot of pauses. very quickly. they are not important. they are not relevant. they are not germane. you can't have them anyway but lately there's an interesting twist. some democrats apparently deciding -- democrats deciding that what is -- what is the phrase i'm looking for? >> what is sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander. >> jon: no, no, that's not it. i'm thinking of the other poultry based expression. >> keep (bleep) that chicken. >> jon: keep (bleep) that chicken. that's the one. [laughter] democrats saw republicans (bleep) that chicken. [ laughter ] and they t

this is the guy who famously said, "i don't trust susan rice over benghazi." >> susan collins voted to move this thing forward, but she says she will vote against his nomination. >> that is party discipline. >> is she worried about a challenge? >> i don't think she is worried about a challenge. i think the leadership wants to stick it to obama, they view chuck hagel as a heretic. if a democrat had the same views as chuck hagel, which john kerry did and he only had three votes against him, but this was one of their own. they are very put out about that. >> on fox news, john mccain recall that hagel was very rough on president bush, said that the surge in iraq one was the biggest mistake since vietnam, and that is the reason republicans are down on him. >> john mccain has been shifting positions this week. he is against the filibuster but wants to delay. this thing walks like a filibuster, quacks like a filibuster. it is a filibuster. secretary of defense bill cohen, republican. secretary of defense robert gates, republican. national security adviser brent scowcroft, republican. chairman

>> oh, i think there's three things we've learned today, that susan rice's statements on the 15th ofmber, five days after the attack were a bunch of b-s because panetta and dempsey said today senator did a good job. and we knew that night it was a terrorist attack. dempsey said the mortar rounds hitting the rooftop was impressive. and panetta and dempsey said they knew it was a terrorist attack on september 11th. who my question, how could the president of the united states over two weeks tell us we don't know what happened? >> unbelievable. >> how could susan rice go on national tv and say there's no evidence of a coordinated terrorist attack. she misled the american people. who changed the talking points? and secretary clinton's story makes no sense. she said she had a clear-eyed view of the threats. she didn't know about the august 15 memo from other own ambassador and the secretary of defense did. >> sean: and the president himself was still blaming a youtube video two weeks later. >> yes. >> sean: last question. you're against enhanced interrogation and you and i had a disagreem

senators graham tanked susan rice. they have filibusters chuck hagel over benghazi. and now mccain still claims there is a massive cover-up. what is going on here? >> i think what is going on is a bit strange, just as you've implied. let me tell you where i was on friday. i was out at the new naval complex, the bethesda walter reed medical complex, visiting with wounded warriors. these are people who paid almost the maximum price, some would say even more than the maximum price in iraq or afghanistan, triple amputees, double amputees. and we were talking about this. they brought the issue up of why mccain, graham, inhofe, cruz and others are opposing hagel, the real reason. and, you know, they dismissed inhofe. he never saw a foxhole in his life. they dismissed graham. he is an air force lawyer, never saw combat in his life. they dismissed cruz. they think he is an idiot. but when it came to john mccain, they shrugged their shoulders, and they looked at me and asked me why? this man is a veteran. this man was a prisoner of war. he showed a great deal of courage under

how could the president of the united states go to the american people for three weeks with susan rice say we believe there is no evidence of a coordinated preplanned terrorist attack. the secretary of defense testified before the congress and knew that night? they manipulated the intelligence close to ethrax create narrative that bin laden was dead, al-qaeda is dishandled and we're all safe. what they said this is a video creating spontaneous event was misleading by the administration and it matters. >> bret: have you heard about survivors telling their story the? do you know anything about that? >> i don't know who they are. we still don't have the f.b.i. interview. best evidence of what happened is the survivors. they will not give the united states congress the f.b.i. interviews of the survivors. we have been told five versions of who changed the talking points. this is not transparent. they are delaying and denying and deceiving. it will not give up until we know what happened. at the end of the day it's about four dead americans. the way the president handled the situation and th

same kind of thing began to happen but the president having sort of looked as though he backed off susan riceas not one he intended to back off from. haig was much more con throw vers a nominee than kerry was. >> candy crowley, ankle over "state of the union," thanks so much. >> thanks. >>> and the nba all-star game is tonight in houston. one of the biggest stars there is talking exclusively to cnn, lebron james opens up about his goals on the court around the comparisons to michael jorden. >>> and turning a hot space rock into cold, hard cash. that's exact what i some russians are hoping to do after friday's powerful meteor blast. find out just how much money they could make ahead in the newsroom. >>> and if tough go out today, just a reminder, you can continue watching cnn from your mobile phone, also watch cnn live from your laptop, go to cnn.com/tv. . [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! i wo

susan rice is condemning the test. >> the actions of north korea are a threat to regional peace and security, international peace and security and they are not acceptable. they will not be tolerated and they will be met with north korea's increasing isolation. >> reporter: in december north korea successfully launched a long-range ballistic missile believed to be capable of reaching the united states. members of the united nations security council are hoping china will be willing to take action against its ally for violating the ban against nuclear activity. south koreans staged angry protests calling on international powers to destroy north korea's nuclear facility. japan's prime minister asked u.s. ambassador john ruse to help with sanctions against north korea. north korea has warned the u.s. not to interfere. cbs news, the united nations. >> president obama will talk about north korea tonight in his state of the union address. >>> yesterday's announcement of pope benedict xvi's resignation came as a shock to most of the world. a vatican spokesperson says that the pope will have no role i