Two potential rivals in the 2016 presidential race will come face to face Wednesday when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Sept. 11 attacks last year on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Sen. Marco Rubio, who is already acting and sounding like a presidential contender, will be sitting across from Clinton loaded with questions about how the Obama administration handled the attacks, according to NBC News.
The hearing could give the Florida Republican a unique opportunity to make his mark on the national stage against the candidate that many believe will be the Democratic standard bearer four years from now.
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Rubio said Tuesday he hopes Clinton’s testimony will shed light on “the decision-making process in terms of the amount of security that was at the consulate.
"She has a unique insight that no one else in the State Department can offer, so we look forward to hearing about that," he added,
according to NBC.
Rubio said he was bothered by “how much blame was put on lower-level officials in the State Department" in an independent report on the Benghazi attack released last month. He described the U.S. mission in Libya as "a high-profile assignment, a high-profile installation, where we should have been aware of some of the security risks that existed.”
But despite his critical comments, he refuted the idea that the hearing would become a political spectacle.
“Everyone here takes their job seriously,” he said. “We understand that everyone involved cared for and highly valued the people whose lives were lost. But mistakes were made and it’s important to understand why they were made and how they were made so that they’re never made again.”
Rubio, who is 41, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 after serving as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2007 until 2009. He was elevated to national prominence last year when he was reported to be on Republican Mitt Romney's short list of possible vice presidential running mates.
Some Republican strategists believe Romney might have fared better in the November election if he had put Rubio, whose parents are Cuban immigrants, on the GOP ticket instead of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.
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