ADVERTISEMENT

Paul: 'Inexcusable' for Clinton to Not Read Requests for Security

February 7, 2013

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) again questioned the lack of security for the U.S. consulate in Benghazi Thursday, continuing to criticize former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for what he called an "inexcusable" lapse in judgment.

"The person I second-guess is not the defense department," Paul said. "I second-guess Secretary Clinton for not having adequate security, for turning down security, for saying, 'Oh, I get a million cables, I didn't have time to read the cables asking for more security.' I'm not asking that she read every cable from Bulgaria to Estonia, but Libya was one of the five most dangerous places in the world by anybody's calculations, and it was inexcusable for her to not read these requests for security."

Paul spoke on Fox News as outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey testified before the Senate about Benghazi.

"I really think there has not been enough made of the lapse or lack of security in advance of the attacks," Paul said. "Not the response after the attacks, because I think that will always be difficult, but really in advance of this, it was a huge judgment error not to have more protection for our consulate."

When Clinton testified Jan. 23 about the Benghazi assault, Paul told her that, had he been president, he would have fired her for her judgment errors.