Two of the top Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are calling on former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice to explain an “unusual email” she sent on the day of President Trump’s inauguration.
The news just broke that Bowe Bergdahl has been given a dishonorable discharge, with no jail time. People are outraged. Matthew Betley (a former Marine officer and author of a series of political action-thrillers), told me, "As a former Marine, I am literally sitting here with jaw on the…
During the George W. Bush presidency, Democrats were vehement and clamorous defenders of Americans’ civil liberties. They inveighed against the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs as though the agency were spying on ordinary Americans in their homes and generally behaving like the East…
For some months now, the House Intelligence Committee, led by Rep. Devin Nunes, has been investigating whether there were political motivations to the the Obama White House’s “unmasking” of American citizens who were named in intelligence reports. Nunes has previously stated that he has seen…
One story going around among conservatives online Thursday was the production of a letter from Trump national security adviser H.R. McMaster to one of his predecessors in the job, Susan Rice. The April letter alerts Rice, who worked in the Obama administration, that her security clearance has been…
Intelligence agencies are supplying the House Intelligence Committee with information about unmasking requests made by three former Obama administration officials, a spokesman for the committee chairman told THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
The fallout from allegations by Devin Nunes of potential surveillance abuses by the Obama White House has a top former intelligence official warning that such claims threaten to undermine the intelligence community's credibility.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes has been in the news recently because a source in the intelligence community informed him that Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice was behind the "unmasking" of Trump campaign associates in intelligence reports, which may have led to other…
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster delivered remarks in Florida today to give some background on the strikes against Syria Thursday. He made one curious comment that raises a lot of troubling questions:
According to a recent headline from Reuters, "U.S. intelligence agencies suspect Assad did not turn over all chemical weapons stockpile." The evidence of the recent chemical attack in Syria makes that declaration little more than stating the obvious. However, back in January in an in interview with…
The ACLU, the nation's preeminent civil liberties organization, isn't loudly denouncing the Obama administration's apparent "unmasking" of Trump associates in intelligence intercepts.
Bloomberg's Eli Lake dropped a bombshell on Monday: Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice was responsible for "unmasking" the identities of Trump officials in intelligence intercepts, and spreading this information around the government.
Former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Tuesday denied abusing intelligence for political reasons during her time in the White House, after a report revealed that she requested the identities of Trump transition team members in intelligence documents on numerous occasions.
There are two big, outstanding questions surrounding Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and Russia: Did associates of the Trump campaign and transition have improper or illicit contact with Russian officials? Did the Obama administration improperly monitor and leak identifying details about those Trump…
When 14 members of the United Nations Security Council voted in 2011 for a resolution condemning the expansion of Israeli settlements as illegal, the Obama administration exercised the United States's veto power to block its passage. Opposition to settlements beyond Israel's borders established in…
Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s editorial page editor Fred Hiatt argued that Syria may be “the most surprising of President Obama’s foreign-policy legacies: not just that he presided over a humanitarian and cultural disaster of epochal proportions, but that he soothed the American people…
Susan Rice, President Obama's national security advisor, said on CNN that at least some money that Iran will receive from the nuclear deal will be used by the regime to support terrorism.
Susan Rice, speaking at the German embassy, on Tuesday night:
Bloomberg's Eli Lake reports Tuesday that the Obama administration kept secret until the beginning of April Iran's two to three month breakout time for a nuclear weapon, saying "the administration only declassified this estimate at the beginning of the month, just in time for the White House to…
The United States Army has charged Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl with desertion and "misbehavior before the enemy." Bergdahl allegedly abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held captive by Taliban-aligned forces for nearly five years before the Obama administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban…
The big speech last week was, of course, the one given before Congress by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was a forceful performance. Nancy Pelosi said that she was so dismayed by both the style and the substance of the prime minister’s speech that she was nearly reduced to tears.
Susan Rice told AIPAC It was "neither realistic nor achievable" to expect Iran to stop enriching uranium:
Secretary of State John Kerry contradicted National Security Adviser Susan Rice by saying that Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "welcome to speak in the United States" and by saying that the U.S.-Israel relationship is at an historic high. Kerry made the comments this morning on ABC:
The following is a transcript of a conversation in the Oval Office passed to me simultaneously by the German, French, and British intelligence services, along with copies of their governments' complaints about the immorality of American spying on its allies.
Writing on the White House blog, Ambassador Susan Rice, the president’s national security advisor, accuses the Senate of harming national security by not confirming more ambassadorial nominees. Rice contends that the current backlog of forty-eight is unnecessary and harmful:
Did the detainees in Guantanamo Bay know about the transfer of five senior Taliban commanders before members of Congress?
In an interview with CNN, Secretary of State John Kerry is careful not to say that Bowe Bergdahl served with "honor and distinction."
National Security Adviser Susan Rice is sticking by her praise for Sgt. Bergdahl. Sort of.
The New York Times reports that Bowe Bergdahl made it clear to those he served with that he was going AWOL.
President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said on ABC that Bowe Bergdahl "served the United States with honor and distinction" and that "Sergeant Bergdahl wasn't simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield."
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed last summer by Judicial Watch, the Obama administration last week released 41 documents related to the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. An email from the deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, has…
When interviewed by Lesley Stahl for 60 Minutes, national security advisor Susan Rice responded to one question with:
Whether it’s “pivoting” or “rebalancing,” the Obama administration’s unceasing efforts to turn retreat into a virtue – particularly when it comes to the Middle East – have become a distinguishing feature of this president’s national security strategy.
Elliott Abrams writes:
Susan Rice famously blamed the Benghazi terror attack that took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, on an Internet video. She further said the terror attack occurred after a spontaneous protest over that anti-Muslim film got out of hand, instead of blaming the al Qaeda…
Today is Susan Rice's first day on the job as National Security Advisor. And already her portfolio has been expanded.
When newspaper editors get together for their next good head-scratching session—Why do they hate us? Why don’t they take us seriously? Why are they abandoning us in droves?—someone should hand out copies of Ruth Marcus’s column “The girls are back” from the June 12 issue of the Washington Post.
THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on Susan Rice's promotion, the nomination of Samantha Power to be the next ambassador to the United Nations, and Congress's investigation into the Internal Revenue Service scandal.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham was asked last night whether he's going to apologize to Susan Rice. He said that she doesn't deserve an apology; she "deserves to be subpoenaed."
The Washington Post editorial board is quite upset with “Republicans and conservative media obsessed” with the “phony” issue of the administration’s misleading public explanation of the nature of the attacks in Benghazi. In a lengthy editorial, the Post makes a haughtier and more condescending…
At a press conference today at the White House, President Obama said "There's no there there" on criticism of how his administration handled the Benghazi terror attack:
Democratic congressman Stephen Lynch said this morning on TV that Susan Rice used "scrubbed" talking points on Benghazi to deliver "false information" to the American people:
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador the United Nations, is being considered to be the next national security adviser to the president of the United States, according to media reports.
John Kerry says that President Obama offered him the secretary of state job a week before Susan Rice publicly pulled out of the running for the job.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemed to throw Susan Rice under the bus when she plainly stated this morning on Capitol Hill, "I wasn't involved in the talking points process." The question was regarding Rice's misleading statements on the Benghazi terror attack on the Sunday morning after the…
U.N. ambassador Susan Rice praises President Obama's selection of John Kerry to be the next secretary of state in a statement to the press:
“I find it really sad. I love Washington, and I just don’t like what has happened at this point. It’s just very unpleasant and sad and something that a very, very good public servant doesn’t deserve or nobody deserves, frankly.” One reads Madeleine Albright's reaction to Susan Rice's withdrawal…
Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, blamed Susan Rice for withdrawing her name from consideration to be the next secretary of state, not Obama. She made the comments this morning on national television:
Susan Rice went on NBC this evening to explain why she told President Barack Obama that she no longer wants to be considered for the secretary of the state job.
President Barack Obama will meet Susan Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, tomorrow afternoon in the Oval Office.
It was believed that Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, would either get the nod for secretary of state or, as a consolation prize, national security adviser. Regardless, the conventional wisdom held, Rice would be promoted in Obama's second term
President Barack Obama just released a statement praising Susan Rice's service and saying he accepts "her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State." Obama also lamented "the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks."
Hillary Clinton reportedly prefers that her replacement be Senator John Kerry, and not Susan Rice, the current ambassador to the United Nations. Both Kerry and Rice have been rumored to be next in line for the secretary of state job. Clinton intends to step down from the post "days" after President…
Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon reports:
America's ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, stated that today's resolution on the status of Palestine as an observer state "does not establish that Palestine is a state."
The Associated Press reports:
President Barack Obama singled out the American ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, for praise at a cabinet meeting today.
In response to a question from reporter Major Garrett on whether the Obama administration's mishandling of Benghazi raises "core questions of basic competency," press secretary Jay Carney revealed that Barack Obama "is not particularly concerned" about whether Susan Rice misled the American people:
U.N. ambassador Susan Rice says in a statement that "I nor anyone else in the Administration intended to mislead the American people" regarding Benghazi.
Three U.S. senators blasted Susan Rice after meeting with her on Capitol Hill. The meeting centered around the Benghazi terrorist attack--and Rice's public statements following the attack.
Susan Rice, the current U.N. ambassador and a possible nominee for secretary of state, has been under fire recently for her involvement in the Benghazi scandal. Prominent senators have promised to block Rice's nomination over the matter, if President Obama puts her up for secretary of state.
Ambassador Susan Rice has finally explained, in her opinion, why she misled the country about what happened during the September 11 terror attack against Americans in Benghazi, Libya. According to Rice, all the blame should be given to the intelligence community for her misleading comments made…
America's ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, was quick to condemn the terror attack in Tel Aviv today as a "terrorist attack."
This past weekend, Congressman Mike Rogers, who is chairman of the House intelligence committee, said that the talking points used to explain what happened in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 were changed by political appointees in the Obama administration. Rogers pointed specifically to the…
During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Congressman Mike Rogers, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, accused political appointees in the intelligence community of spinning the September 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi.
David Petraeus is going to tell members of Congress that he "knew almost immediately after the September 11th attack, that the group Ansar al Sharia, the al Qaeda sympathizing group in Libya was responsible for the attacks," CNN reports.
Kirsten Powers writes:
President Barack Obama revealed at his press conference this afternoon that he is responsible for sending U.N. ambassador Susan Rice to speak to the American people a few days after the September 11 Benghazi terror attack.
The United States and Venezuela will now serve together on the United Nations Human Rights Council, after both countries won elections today to serve together. Venezuela received 154 votes and is in the Latin American group, while the U.S. received 131 and is in the Western group.
Dave Weigel at Slate corrects me on an entry in my long Benghazi rhetoric timeline today.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the reason the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, gave misinformation to the American people is because of the "fog of war." According to the notes of Wendell Goler of Fox News, here's what Clinton had to say:
John Podhoretz, writing for the New York Post:
After more than two weeks of obfuscation and misdirection from the Obama administration, the American public is coming to understand what the U.S. intelligence community learned in the 48 hours immediately following the September 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Among the…
For nine days, the Obama administration made a case that virtually everyone understood was untrue: that the killing of our ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, was a random, spontaneous act of individuals upset about an online video—an unpredictable attack on a well-protected…
This morning on Fox News Sunday, Robert Gibbs had problems explaining why the Obama administration misled the nation on what happened in Libya:
Libyan president Mohammed el-Megarif is saying the attack Benghazi that killed the American ambassador was planned well beforehand. His statements on this topic firmly contradict the Obama administration's version of events.
This morning on Fox News Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, doubled down on the Obama administration's claim that an Internet video is responsible for anti-American mobs across the Middle East:
As CNN reported, "Russia and China vetoed a new U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday that would have imposed new sanctions on the Syrian regime."
The Obama administration keeps spinning its wheels on Syria. Because the White House sees no clear American interest in toppling Bashar al-Assad, it has tasked out Syria policy to others, first Turkey then the Arab League, and pleads for an international chorus condemning the Syrian regime at the…
Portraying President Obama’s U.N.-centered foreign policy as consistent with American values or pro-Israel has become increasingly difficult for administration officials. The result has been a steady stream of inaccurate accounts of goings-on at the organization.
The debate intensifies around Obama's treatment of Israel. Today, the Emergency Committee for Israel goes behind enemy lines, running a full page advertisement in the New York Times that explains to President Obama what he should do if he wants to stand with Israel this week at the United Nations.