Shadow of Benghazi Hangs Over the Obama Loyalist Picked to Be Biden’s Domestic Policy Adviser
(CNSNews.com) – As Joe Biden rolls out nominees and appointees for his administration, the naming of Susan Rice to head his White House Domestic Policy Council is drawing mixed reactions, given the former ambassador to the U.N.’s deeply controversial role in the September 2012 Benghazi affair.
Biden on Thursday named Rice as part as what he called “a crisis-tested team of respected public servants who will lead with compassion, integrity, and character to make our government work for all Americans.” He plans to introduce her and his nominees for U.S. trade representative and secretaries of agriculture, housing and development, and veterans affairs in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday afternoon.
Rice said in a tweet she was “humbled and excited by this call to serve. The scale of the challenges ahead demands a government that works for all Americans. We must restore trust in government through strong and equitable domestic policy that builds back better here at home. Let’s GO!”
The White House Domestic Policy Council oversees a president’s domestic policy agenda – including issues like immigration and health care, but excluding economic policy. Its director does not require Senate confirmation.
Rice served as ambassador to the U.N. during President Obama’s first term, and as national security adviser during the second. Her appointment won praise from former officials in that administration.
“Outstanding choice!!!” tweeted former senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, describing Rice as “a brilliant and dedicated leader committed to public service with a wealth of experience.”
Samantha Power, who succeeded Rice as ambassador to the U.N., called it “an inspired choice,” while John Kerry, former secretary of state and incoming climate change czar said she was “one of the most brilliant, tenacious, and determined colleagues I’ve ever known.”
“Susan knows how to make govt work and is always the best prepared person in the room,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.
(Rhodes, Power and Rice have all been involved in a group called National Security Action, Rhodes as co-chair and Rice and Power as advisery council members. Its stated aim was “advancing American global leadership and opposing the reckless policies of the Trump administration that endanger our national security and undermine U.S. strength in the world.” The other co-chair, former top aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Jake Sullivan, is Biden’s pick for national security adviser.)
The naming of Rice as Domestic Policy Council director also prompted strongly negative reactions on social media and elsewhere.
“It makes me sick to think a person of such low character could sit in the same office I sat in when I was advising one of our greatest presidents,” commented Gary Bauer, who was domestic policy adviser to President Reagan in 1987-1988. He called Rice “the chief liar in the Benghazi massacre.”
Bauer was referring to Rice’s role in the Obama administration’s handling of the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which cost the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, and foreign service officer Sean Smith.
Five days after the attack, the White House deployed Rice to deliver to five Sunday television talk shows the message that the attack was a “spontaneous reaction” to an online video mocking Islam’s prophet.
The administration would only later acknowledge publicly that the assault was a terrorist attack, with a probable al-Qaeda link.
Among many puzzling questions at the time was why Rice went onto the shows on September 16 to talk about the incident in the first place, since just two days earlier the State Department – her department – told reporters it would answer no more questions on the attack “until the Justice Department is ready to talk about the investigation.”
That she did so stoked Republican suspicions that the administration was trying to spin the events for political ends – and mislead voters – in the closing weeks of Obama’s re-election campaign.
Obama rejected the allegations, calling them “offensive” during an Oct. 2012 debate with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
‘Fodder for my critics to pick at’
Clinton was secretary of state during the episode, and the furor dogged her subsequent campaign for the White House. It also appeared to have cost Rice the chance of succeeding Clinton as secretary of state, as Rice wrote in her 2019 memoir, Tough Love.
That December, she asked Obama to withdraw her name from consideration, and the post went to Kerry. Six months later Obama tapped Rice as National Security Adviser, a post which unlike that of secretary of state does not require Senate confirmation.
Rice consistently maintained that her comments were based on the best information available to the intelligence community at the time.
It was later revealed that the White House had advised her to focus on the video during the interviews.
In an email released in 2014 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, sent two days before Rice’s television appearances – subject line: “PREP CALL with Susan” – the NSC’s Rhodes recommended that she “underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure of policy.”
In her memoir, Rice wrote, “I also acknowledge that there were some words and phrases I uttered on Sunday, September 16, that I wish I could restate with more precision, less certitude, or not have said at all. None of them materially changed the substance of what I said, but they offered fodder for my critics to pick at.”
Describing herself as “a team player,” she wrote that she had put the team first, and in the process did herself “a disservice.”
Pollak: Joe Biden Names Susan Rice to WH Despite Record of Lying, Failure
Former Vice President Joe Biden named Susan Rice to lead his White House Domestic Policy Council on Friday, despite her long history of failure and her record of lying to the American people.
Rice has no experience in domestic policy. She has extensive experience in foreign policy, however — almost all of it bad.
In President Bill Clinton’s administration, Rice tried to keep the U.S. from intervening in the Rwandan genocide, and then tried to cover up the president’s inaction.
Moreover, as Breitbart News has previously noted, “Rice also defended the Clinton administration’s initial refusal to provide cheaper HIV/Aids drugs to Africa, and opposed efforts to work with the Sudanese government when it was prepared to hand over a terrorist named Osama bin Laden.”
She was a foreign policy adviser to then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) during his first presidential campaign, famously lying about the fact that her candidate had promised to meet with enemy leaders “without preconditions” (he did so during a 2007 debate). Obama elevated her to the position of UN Ambassador, where she compounded dishonesty with mismanagement.
As Breitbart News has noted:
Frequently absent from meetings, Rice also attacked Israel but tolerated Iran. She opposed scrutiny of human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but enthusiastically supported the UN Human Rights Council, a discredited club of dictators obsessively focused on condemning Israel. Her office enthusiastically complained to the council about supposed abuses in the U.S., such as Arizona’s immigration law.
In her role as UN Ambassador, Rice infamously led the Obama administration’s effort to cover up its failures during the Benghazi terror attack in September 12, blaming an obscure anti-Muslim YouTube video rather than Islamic terrorists.
That episode doomed her prospects to survive Senate confirmation, were Obama to have nominated her to be Secretary of State in his second term.
Instead, he made her National Security Advisor, where she presided over major failures, allowing Russia to seize Crimea and pursuing a flawed nuclear deal with Iran that encouraged the regime’s regional aggression.
On her way out of office in 2017, Rice was deeply involved in the Obama administration’s efforts to undermine the incoming Trump administration. She helped “unmask” the names of Trump aides in intelligence reports, and later lied about it.
She was present at a key Oval Office meeting in January 2017 when the investigation of incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was discussed (so, too, was Vice President Biden). Though the FBI knew by then that Flynn was innocent, the Obama administration allowed the inquiry to continue.
Rice later tried to cover up the Obama administration’s involvement by writing a memo on her last day in office in which she insisted that President Obama wanted everything done “by the book.”
On Friday, Biden promised that Rice would “elevate and turbocharge” the Domestic Policy Council, but he did not explain what qualifications, if any, she had for that specific role.
In accepting her appointment, Rice talked about her family background, and the achievements of her forebears. But she added: “Today, for far too many, the American dream has become an empty promise, a cruel mockery of lives held back by barriers, new and old.”
Why does someone with contempt for America want to govern it?
There is hardly anyone in America with a worse public record of failure, dishonesty, and conniving than Susan Rice. She has no place in the Biden administration — or any administration.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Susan Rice Departing Netflix Board to Join Biden Administration
AP Photo, File
10 Dec 2020370
1:51
Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice will formally leave her post on the Netflix board next month to join Joe Biden’s administration, with Netflix chairman and co-CEO Reed Hastings thanking Rice for her “service.”
“We are grateful to Susan Rice for her many contributions on our board and congratulate her on her return to public service,” Hastings said following reports of Biden selecting Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council.
Rice, who joined the Netflix board in 2018, will be leaving January 20, according to Deadline.
The former Obama administration official sparked suspicions in August after selling a sizeable portion of her Netflix shares as Biden continued his search for a running mate, though he ultimately chose Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). However, a representative at the time claimed that Rice’s move had “nothing to do” with Biden or his campaign.
“Ambassador Rice’s sale of a fraction of her Netflix stock has nothing to do with V.P. speculation,” Rice spokesperson Erin Pelton said in a statement. “She filed a stock plan pursuant to SEC regulations over three months ago.”
“She will coordinate the formulation and implementation of President-elect Biden’s domestic policy agenda to build back better,” Biden’s team stated, describing Rice as a “deeply experienced, talented negotiator.”
In a statement, the former vice president said his selection of Rice is aimed to bring “the highest level of experience, compassion, and integrity” to his administration.
Rice, as well as the Obamas, were among those who remained relatively silent in the thick of the controversy over Netflix’s Cuties, a French drama critics say is rife with the sexualization of pre-pubescent children.
Forbes: Big Tech’s Elite ‘Most Notable Billionaire Winners’ of 2020 Election
Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images / Netflix
11 Dec 2020
Big Tech executives will be the “most notable billionaire winners” of the presidential election if former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) are sworn in as president and vice president in January 2021, according to Forbes.
If Biden takes office, four billionaires will have come out on top as a result of their quest to unseat President Donald Trump, according to Forbes. Three of those billionaires are from Silicon Valley, California’s tech industry where a handful of multinational corporations have monopolized power.
Forbes notes:
Dustin Moskovitz: Mark Zuckerberg’s college roommate, the Facebook and Asana cofounder spent big to fight Trump. He gave more than $800,000 to Biden and made a $20 million-plus donation to Future Forward, a super-PAC that shelled out $100 million to fund a last-minute TV ad blitz attacking Trump. “It’s raining in San Francisco, which is actually just perfect,” Moskovitz tweeted the day after Biden was named the victor. “5 star weekend.”
Reid Hoffman: The LinkedIn cofounder was one of Biden’s top fundraisers, helping the former vice president haul in record sums for his campaign. Hoffman himself gave more than $12 million this cycle, including at least $500,000 to Biden and $1.5 million to Unite The Country, a pro-Biden super-PAC. He told Axios in the days before the election that he would put $1 million into a digital ad campaign urging voters to be patient as votes are counted. Ahead of the 2016 election, Hoffman trolled Trump with his own Cards Against Humanity-style game called “Trumped Up Cards.”
…
Reed Hastings & Patty Quillin: The Netflix cofounder and co-CEO and his wife, Patty Quillin, reportedly co-hosted a fundraiser for Pete Buttigieg in December 2019 but ended up giving at least $1.4 million to Biden. Quillin was also one of the biggest political donors to California propositions this year. She put $2 million into opposing Proposition 20, which would have made it more difficult for convicted felons to qualify for early parole. It was struck down by voters. She put a quarter-million dollars into supporting Proposition 17, giving parolees in the state the right to vote, which won.
The other billionaire set to win big if Biden is sworn into office is former hedge fund executive Jim Simons who is worth more than $23 billion and who spent more than $20 million to defeat Trump.
Biden’s choice to make Harris his running mate elated not only Wall Street, but also Silicon Valley as she represents their interests in the United States Senate and has close family connections to tech executives. Harris’ brother-in-law is the chief legal officer for Uber, the ride-sharing corporation that has become a billion-dollar business by shifting most of the risk to its drivers.
In his transition, Biden has reportedly stacked positions with special interests from Big Tech. Most recently, the former vice president announced that former Obama official Susan Rice would become head of his Domestic Policy Council. Rice currently sits on the board of Netflix.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
Big Tech and Big Law dominate Biden transition teams, tempering progressive hopes
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2020/12/how-many-parasite-lawyers-will-lawyer.html
"Along with Obama (LAWYER) Biden (LAWYER), Pelosi and Schumer (LAWYER) are responsible for incalculable damage done to this country over the eight years of that administration." PATRICIA McCARTHY
Add the Banksters’ rent boy Eric Holder (LAWYER) and the up and coming Swamp Empress Kamala Harris (LAWYER, SO IS HER SHADY HUSBAND)…but keep counting….(LAWYER) Brian Deese, Obama-Biden’s loot-for-Wall Street guy.
Hauser also didn’t like the prevalence of Big Law talent on the Department of Justice team, which signaled to him that the Biden administration could go soft on corporate malefactors.
BIDEN’S WALL STREET CABINET: EXPECT BOTTOMLESS BAILOUTS NEXT!
Biden administration will be committed to austerity and back-to-work campaign aimed at forcing workers to pay for the corporate bailout no matter how many lives are needlessly lost to the pandemic.
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2020/12/joe-bidens-wall-street-cabinet-biden.html
The selection of Deese and Adeyemo—who both previously served in the Obama administration—exemplifies the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, DC, which operates constantly, regardless of which party controls the White House.
It is a further signal to the financial oligarchy that a Biden administration will dispense with its rhetoric about raising taxes on the wealthy and continue funneling trillions into the stock markets. “By picking folks with deep ties to large asset managers,” Tyler Gellasch, executive director of investor trade group Healthy Markets Association, told the Journal, “the administration can help assuage financial executives’ concerns. It sends a clear signal to the industry to breathe easier: They can plan for stability without likely facing massive new regulatory or tax risks.”
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