Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) had some harsh words for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if she plans to run for president in 2016.
Appearing for a pre-taped interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl which aired on This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, May 11, Senator Rubio gave Secretary Clinton a grade of “F” for her time at the State Department and stated “I don’t think she has a passing grade.” [See video below.]
When asked by Karl how big a problem Benghazi would be for Clinton’s potential political future, Rubio opined:
I’m sure she’s going to go out bragging about her time in the State Department. She’s also going to have to be held accountable for its failures. Whether it’s the failed reset with Russia or the failure in Benghazi that actually cost lives.
ABC went so far as to highlight Rubio’s condemnation of Clinton on This Week’s official Twitter account:
After being prompted by the ABC reporter to assign a grade to Clinton tenure, Rubio doubled-down on his criticism of Clinton, giving her a failing grade before arguing “If you look at the diplomacy that was pursued at her time in the State Department it has failed everywhere in the world. So here’s what I would say, If she’s going to run on her record as Secretary of State she’s also going to have to answer for its massive failures.”
The Tea Party senator also spoke for the need to continue investigating the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi following Karl’s skepticism by asking “Do we really need another committee investigating Benghazi?”
Rubio responded:
No one’s been held accountable. I mean who has been held accountable for what happened in Benghazi? This administration has a tendency on foreign policy issues in particular, not to worry about what to do and to worry more about what to say. And they decided not just to mislead the American public but to mislead the families of the victims as to exactly what happened.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC
This Week with George Stephanopoulos
May 11, 2014
10:20 a.m. Eastern
JONATHAN KARL: Lately, he spends more time talking about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. There have already been 13 congressional hearings on the attack. But this week, House Republicans launched a new special committee to investigate further. You have had several investigations in the Congress. The administration has its investigations. Do we really need another committee investigating Benghazi?
MARCO RUBIO: No one’s been held accountable. I mean who has been held accountable for what happened in Benghazi? This administration has a tendency on foreign policy issues in particular, not to worry about what to do and to worry more about what to say. And they decided not just to mislead the American public but to mislead the families of the victims as to exactly what happened.
KARL: But you have the Republican Party raising money off this investigation. Is that appropriate?
RUBIO: I would prefer that we would focus not on the fundraising elements or the political elements of it–
KARL: Should they stop fundraising off of it?
RUBIO: Well I would hope they would and here’s why because I think it takes away from the reality of how serious a situation this is.
KARL: How big a problem is this going to be for Hillary Clinton? How much is this going to be used against her?
RUBIO: I’m sure she’s going to go out bragging about her time in the State Department. She’s also going to have to be held accountable for its failures. Whether it’s the failed reset with Russia or the failure in Benghazi that actually cost lives.
KARL: So what grade do you give her as Secretary of State?
RUBIO: I don’t think she has a passing grade.
KARL: You think she’s an F?
RUBIO: Yeah because if you look at the diplomacy that was pursued at her time in the State Department it has failed everywhere in the world. So here’s what I would say, If she’s going to run on her record as Secretary of State she’s also going to have to answer for its massive failures.
