Deliberately mischaracterized what happened. She was reading from unclassified talking points and nonetheless this has been caught up in a back and forth and, wolf, if i may, im going to read from part of her statement, her letter to the president and what she wrote in part, i am now convinced that the confirmation process will be lengthy, disruptive, and costly to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities. That tradeoff is simply not worth it to our country. The secretary of state may never be politicized. She says, i look forward to building on progress in your second term which seems to leave the door open to the possibility she could serve in the administration in the second term and according to my sources there has been some talk of ambassador rice serving in the white house in the capacity as a president s director of National Security. Now, thats a position that does not require Senate Confirmation and so she can possibly enter that role without the kind of conflict that would be involved in a confirmation hearing. This also opens the door for the possibility that senator kerry could get the nod for secretary of state perhaps as early as next week, wolf. It does look like john kerry now is certainly the frontrunner to be the secretary of state. Hes the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee. There was some speculation he could be the secretary of defense although i think his preference has always been secretary of state. The president needs to put together his new National Security team in the coming days in order to get confirmation of all of these individuals in january so they can get going by the time hes sworn in for his second term on january 20th. Right now john kerry, if he becomes the nominee to become secretary of state, theres also speculation that chuck hagal could be nominated to be secretary of defense. A lot of speculation about the cia director. That position is open right now and a lot of speculation about the secretary of the treasury who has a lot of National Responsibilities as well. What are you hearing . Reporter well, its my understanding that senator kerry is the odds on favorite to be secretary of state but he has told people that he does not want to be secretary of defense. Thats sort of a nonissue right now with susan rice clearing the way so this could allow senator kerry to get the nod for state. Senator chuck hagal, as you say, a republican, is the president s odds on favorite to become secretary of defense. Gloria borger has been reporting that as well. Senator hagal is wellliked by the president. Hes seen as a team player and can get things done but does have some challenge and would no doubt have some issues in confirmation because proisrael groups objected to the position that hes taken in the past opposing irans sanctions in the past, not recognizing hezbollah as a terrorist group. That could create some sticky situations. And then theres a question of cia. The big question is whether john brennan, currently the director of Homeland Security want that job. Its his if he wants it. The question is, does he . Otherwise director morell could get it. The president could perhaps make all of these announcements next week. Stand by just for a moment. Jill dougherty is our state correspondent. It looks potentially like john kerry could be the man that youll be covering in the weeks and months to come, john kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, democratic president ial nominee back in 2004. What are you hearing . Well, obviously now that susan rice is out of the picture, it would be very logical to turn to him. He is well known for international affairs. Every type of issue he seems to have a statement ready within seconds. Hes a heavyweight. He knows all of the issues. He wouldnt have the difficulty, it would appear, in the senate for being confirmed with that post as susan rice would have. And it also clears the way now for secretary clinton to move on to her next venture because dont forget until that process of guesting somebody in that place was over and now if its a smoother sailing, then she could leave after the inauguration and that would be a lot easier for her. The other thing on the time, the accountability on which susan rice made those comments is going to be coming out and both to the senate and to the house and so theres a lot of tight timing on this but it could be very, very interesting so dont forget what brought her down and next week the accountability review board, the investigative review body that the state department puts together. It would be reporting directly to secretary clinton and then secretary clinton briefs the congress. So we will know a lot more about benghazi presumably next week. Secretary clinton is scheduled to testify before congress on december 20th and that accountability board led by Thomas Pickering reviewing what happened. I want everyone to stand by. Jill dougherty at the state department, Jessica Yellin at the white house. Lets go to dana bash on capitol hill. What are you hearing up there . Reporter not a lot of surprise. The fact of the matter is susan rice did not do herself any favors in the meetings which we covered intensely. The meetings that she had with john mccain and Lindsey Graham but more importantly with people who she mahad meetings with tha were on the fence. Instead of answering what the senator thought were mundane questions, she got very defensive and the feelings about Susan Collins and others, if she cant deal with United States senators who are kind of fellow americans, so to speak, how is she going to be on the world stage when shes dealing with some of the worlds foes. So that was a big concern here. It certainly was political as well. That was a big concern from those senators who were not as political. Theres a lot of respect for her. People think that shes very, very smart, that she knows the issues. There is some concern, not just from republicans but also democrats ive talked to about her personality, whether she had the personality to be the secretary of state and to represent the u. S. On the world stage. Those statements, i take it, from either senator mccain, Lindsey Graham or ayotte . Reporter senator graham told me especially there was no way he was going to let her nomination go forward. As you just heard, the president made a point of noting that he he was very unhappy with what he called the distortions of susan rice, particularly with her record of benghazi. Its important to note that benghazi was the flash point that might have taken her nomination down before it even started but it was beyond that. It was also just the feeling that she was too political and may be better to be the National Security adviser as jessica just reported because its more political and she doesnt need Senate Confirmation. Everyone stand by. Gloria borger is here in the situation room watching what is going on as well. We were bracing for an announcement of the new National Security team next week. We didnt know if the president was going to dig down and fight aggressively for susan rice by writing this letter to the president , she has withdrawn her name . Ive just spoke with a source close to the white house since this news had been revealed and he was not really surprised, wolf. Like dana was reporting from capitol hill, senators there not very much surprised because the sense was the longer that the nominations held out there, the potential for the nomination hung out there, the more difficult the white house realized what they had. So i think that this one source said to me, look, they underestimated the importance of the club and also really came to understand the difficulty that she had when she went up to those senators on the hill, as dana was talking about, particularly Susan Collins, who would have been a natural ally and, instead, came out of that session with more questions than answers. Considerwe just got a statem from senator mccain. Senator mccain thanks ambassador rice for her service to the country and wishes her well. He will continue to seek all of the facts surrounding the attack on or consulate in the benghazi that killed four brave americans. A short statement from senator mccain. Basically, i assume, hes fairly relieved that this is over with and if john kerry is the nominee, i think theres no doubt he will support john kerrys nomination. Thats right. I dont think anyone would want to know john mccain single handedly brought down susan rice. Because i think there were lots of senators as they made their visits to the hill and also some democrats who had questions about benghazi. No doubt john mccain would have led the charge. But i dont think the president would have been swayed one way or another by a single senator but clearly john mccain will support john kerry if hes supported and that seems more and more likely to be the case. Yesterday you reported that chuck hagal, the former nebraska governor was emerges as a frontrunner to be the next secretary of defense. What are you hearing today in. I think its still the case and probably more so at this point. We know that chuck hagal, a republican, has met with the president , has met with the Vice President. This doesnt mean that its going to be easy for chuck hagal, wolf. He believes in soft power. He didnt early on in the 2000s believe in iranian sanctions. This is someone who has continued to be involved in Foreign Policy. Somebody well respected inside the administration. Remember, he crossed party lines, wolf, to support barack obama when he first ran for the presidency in the 2008 campaign. Let me read the statement that Lindsey Graham just released. Ill put it up on the screen. I respect ambassador rices decision. President obama has many tal leblted people to choose from for our next secretary of state. Im determined to find out what happened in benghazi before, during, and after the attack. Unfortunately, they are stone walling when it comes to relevant information. I find this unacceptable. Lindsey graham adds, it is a security failure and we must never have it happen again. Weve now heard from senator mccain, weve now heard from Lindsey Graham. Well be hearing from many more. And the question on benghazi might also affect the question of who leads the cia, for example. I know jessica was talking about that earlier because the question is whether the Deputy Director becomes tarnished because of the cia role in benghazi or not disclosing information on what it actually occurred. Hes got to put together a National Security team being secretary of state, defendants, secretary of treasury. Hes got to get a new cia director. Maybe hell want to get a new security adviser. Tom donolan wants to do Something Different. Stand by, gloria, for that. Were getting new information on why susan rice, the u. S. Ambassador to the United Nations made this decision. Stand by. [ female announcer ] one drop of ultra dawn has twice the everyday grease cleaning ingredients of one drop of the leading nonconcentrated brand. To clean 2x more greasy dishes. Dawn does more. So its not a chore. [ male announcer ] with free package pickup from the u. S. Postal service the holidays are easy. Visit usps. Com. Pay, print, and have it picked up for free before december 20h for delivery in time for the holidays. You can even give us special instructions on where to find it. Free package pickup. From the u. S. Postal service. Because its nice to have an extra pair of hands around for the holidays. Susan rice, the United States ambassador to the United Nations has asked obama to no longer consider her as a possible secretary of state to replace Hillary Clinton who admitted that she wants out at the end of this first term. The president issued a letter in return saying that hes reluctant reluctantly accepted her decision. Youre getting more information on why she made this decision and announced it today. Elise, what do you hear . Thats right. I just spoke to someone familiar with her situation and basically its a lot of what she said in the letter. She felt like this whole campaign against her really unprecedented in its scope for a nominee of secretary of state was a manufactured distraction and what this person told me is ambassador rice has a lot of honor, a lot of dignity and patriotism and she was determined to put her country first. This person wolf, ive been speaking to ambassador rices aides, people that have worked with her at the u. N. Over the last couple of weeks and months since this happened and they feel as if this distraction, this campaign against her has really taken away from a lot of the important work that ambassador rice has done at the United Nations, such as getting very tough sanctions on iran and also helping defend israel from attack and what this person and others have said to me over the past few weeks is no matter what secretary rice excuse me, wolf. Ambassador rice has a long future ahead of her. Obviously very close to the president , a trusted member of his National Security adviser and this person told me again today, was very unequivocal and firm in his support for her and he said that he continues to rely on her close counsel, wolf. A very strong statement he made, dont go after her, go after me if you want to go after anyone. He has reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw her name for secretary of state. Mike rogers is the congressman from michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Lets get your Immediate Reaction to the breaking news. What do you think about this, congressman . And ambassador rice was facing an uphill battle in the senate for any confirmation and i think it may have distracted from north korea and the issues going on there and chemical weapons and opposition that we dont fully understand. We have a growing al qaeda attack. When you look at all of the challenges that the secretary of state is going to face, this would have been distracting from those issues because i think there are a lot of senators who were concerned about her statements and her positions when it came to the benghazi aftermath. As chairman of the Intelligence Committee, are you confident you now know everything you need to know about what happened in benghazi . I think were getting a better picture every day. We had another closed hearing to try to see days after benghazi and its going to take some time to go through all of the information. I feel very strongly, wolf, that it was a gross negligence when it came to the physical security of the ambassador at the mission there in benghazi. That was very clear to me. Some very, very bad decisions were made and i think contributed to the death of the ambassador and three other great americans. So that part i think is taking great shape. I think the intelligence part is coming together. It sounds to me or looks to me when i review everything, it looked pretty good leading into the day and the days after. I think its clear that there was some political interpretation of the intelligence and the day after. We still have more questions. The investigation is still under way by the fbi and now we need to focus on what we were trying to do today, wolf, is focus on getting the people responsible and holding them accountable for their actions that killed and took the life of four americans. Youre talking about the al qaeda Affiliate Organizations that may have been responsible for these four americans, including ambassador chris stevens. When you say there was gross negligence, that suggests that they should have had better security for the colleagues and they were negligent. Do we know who these individuals that were negligent are . That picture is clearer today than it was a short time ago. Can you tell us who they are . I think its best to wait until all of the details are assembled and a report will be issued. But i will tell you, wolf, when you look at all of the information, information leading up on the day and the days after, it was very, very clear that there was a serious Security Threat there in the state department did not make the right decisions to secure the ambassador himself and theres all kinds of evidence of all sorts leading up to that conclusion. Again, there will be a report soon. I think, again, on the ambassador rice thing, all of that would have been rehashed in the senate and is not helpful to the real issues that were facing today which is north korea, syria, growing al qaeda and libya, all of those issues. Well, lets get to syria for a moment while i have you. How secure are those Chemical Warfare stockpiles in syria now . Do you believe that president Bashar Al Assad will use Chemical Warfare against his own people . Well, his father at least theres lots of reporting that his father did in fact use chemical weapons or something very close to it in his suppression of the population. We know that he has made it available, meaning that in some of these chemical weapons there are certain procedures you have to go through to make them a viable weapon. I believe that thats happened. I believe that they are available for use at a very short in the. Now, the desperation of dictator facing his ending days of his regime who was, i believe, has made these chemical weapons out of the stockpile available for use. I dont know and we know his father used it. It would be irresponsible, i think, of the International Community to lead in and say, we dont think hes going to use them. The modeling on this, wolf, is not good. It could be hundred and thousands dead, millions who would be impacted by i