The embattled U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is appearing before a panel of U.S. senators today to answer questions about this fall’s deadly attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says Ambassador Susan Rice will be grilled about the September 11th incident which killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.
“We need all the people that were involved in the original intelligence document that said it was a terrorist attack, and then those words were taken out somewhere either in the intelligence community or in the White House, before she got them,” Grassley says.
“Did she know about it? Who made the changes? What was their basis for making the changes?” Rice has been criticized for appearing on TV talk shows following the assault and blaming protests over an anti-Islamic film that appeared on the website YouTube.
Grassley, a Republican, says Rice likely isn’t the only person who needs to appear before Congress to fill in some blanks. “I’m willing to give her an opportunity to express her views and consider what she says,” Grassley says.
“I don’t know that we can rely totally on her unless she was in the loop of all this happening. I suppose we’ll find that out today. We need those answers.” The acting director of the C-I-A is also supposed to meet with members of Congress on this issue later in the week.
Rice is meeting with several Republican senators today, but not Grassley directly.