On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took aim at former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the State Department’s handling of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Last week, Paul had given a speech in the early presidential battleground state of Iowa that was highly critical of Clinton. “State of the Union” host Candy Crowley asked Paul if he stuck by those remarks, to which the Kentucky Republican said he did and likened Benghazi to an incident that occurred during her husband’s first term.
“I absolutely stick by them,” Paul said. “You know, in Bill Clinton’s administration, when Les Aspin did not provide security in Mogadishu, the famous Black Hawk Down, he was asked to resign, and he left and admitted he made tragic errors.”
Paul went on to criticize Hillary Clinton further, calling it a dereliction of duty and dismissed the “political overtones” of the criticism.
“I’ve done it in every state and every stop, because I think it’s pretty important that she accept blame for not providing security,” Paul said. “She was asked repeatedly to provide security in Benghazi on several occasions, including direct cables, and she says she never read the cables on security. I find that inexcusable and a dereliction of duty. Whether it has political overtones or not, it really goes to the heart of who you are as secretary of state if you do not provide security for an embassy that’s begging for it. That’s absolutely a dereliction of duty, and she should have resigned and accepted blame for it.”