U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice withdrew her name Thursday as President Obama’s leading candidate for secretary of state, saying the administration could not afford a “lengthy, disruptive and costly” confirmation fight over statements she made about the extremist attack in Libya that killed four Americans.
Rice called Obama on Thursday morning, before sending him a letter officially withdrawing from consideration. Rice said in an interview that she had concluded early this week that what she and Obama considered “unfair and misleading” charges against her over the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, would impede the president’s second-term agenda.
“This was my decision,” Rice said. When asked if Obama had tried to dissuade her, she said that he “understood that this was the right decision, and that I made it for the right reasons.”
Her withdrawal leaves Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) with no apparent rivals to take over from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. A senior administration official said that “something strange would have to happen” for Kerry not to be the choice.
The official also said that former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) has emerged as a “solid” candidate to run the Pentagon, although a final decision has not been made. For the CIA, the official said, Obama is deciding between Acting Director Michael J. Morell and deputy national security adviser John O. Brennan, who has yet to tell the president whether he would accept the job.
As Obama assembles his second-term national security team, formal announcements are due as early as next week. National security adviser Thomas E. Donilon will remain in his job, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House deliberations.
Rice said in the interview that “after a long, grueling battle, in all likelihood, I would be confirmed.” The assessment was shared by White House officials and by senior Democratic congressional aides who said they were confident that a majority of senators would have voted for her.
“But I really came to believe this would not be weeks, but potentially months, and incredibly distracting and disruptive,” Rice said. The first few months of any president’s second term, she said, are “your high-water mark of influence.”
“If my nomination meant that the odds of getting comprehensive immigration reform passed or any other major priority were substantially reduced, I couldn’t live with myself,” she said.
Rice’s withdrawal was a retreat by Obama, who had repeatedly voiced support for her. In a statement issued by the White House, Obama described her as “an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant.”
But her removal from the scene is unlikely to quell the controversy that led to it: the extremist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) have focused on what they called Rice’s intentionally misleading description, in television interviews five days after the attack, of an anti-American demonstration that turned violent. The administration later revised that assessment, using what it said was updated intelligence information, to blame organized extremists.
Page 2 by Scott Wilson and Ed O’Keefe/Washington Post
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