FOX "Hannity"- Transcript: Benghazi Hearing

Interview

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HANNITY: Here with reaction, 2016 Republican presidential candidate, Florida senator Marco Rubio. Senator, welcome back to the program.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Sean.

HANNITY: First, general impressions about today.

RUBIO: It goes back to what I've been saying from the beginning, We need to focus on this very carefully. Benghazi was a very dangerous city. The Red Cross had already pulled out of Benghazi at the time. The Brits had already pulled out of Benghazi at the time. Our own facility had been attacked with a firebomb previously to that.

Despite all of this, the State Department made a decision to leave that consulate in Benghazi open. I would say that that right there is a red flag. They should have known that they shouldn't have been there.

But let's suppose they decide to stay there. If you decide you're going to stay there, then you have to ensure that you have sufficient security for that facility. Again, they failed to do that. The attackers breached it very quickly and happened to catch the ambassador there and killed him, and of course, three others lost their lives, as well, as a result of that. So they had insufficient security for the facility.

In fact, they had outsourced the security to Libyan militias. And then on top of that, there was no plan in place of extraction. If, in fact, there was an attack, they did not have military assets nearby to respond quickly and save lives.

It was a massive incompetence at every level, and the buck stops at the top. If Hillary Clinton's going to go around taking credit for her time as secretary of state, then she must take responsibilities for failures that happened at the State Department under her watch. And this was the costliest of all in terms of human lives, American lives!

HANNITY: She's been doing an awful lot of bragging about her advice that she gave on the issue of the bin Laden raid. I think raised a good point -- then she's equally accountable.

The whole issue -- 600 individual separate requests for additional security -- as you pointed out, they had outsourced it to the Libyan militia, which I think is insane. We know the ambassador sent a cable saying that al Qaeda training camps were right there in Benghazi!

So the question is -- she got Sid Blumenthal's e-mails. She responded to them. How could she not get 600 separate requests for additional security because they're concerned about it there?

RUBIO: That's exactly right. That's the incompetence level in this. Look, they should have known Benghazi was incredibly dangerous. And that alone should have anchored a debate about whether or not we should retain a facility there. If they decide to keep a facility there, then you have to make sure that that facility is accurately -- acceptably secured, and that's not what happened here, as you saw how quickly it was breached.

And more importantly, as I already pointed out, the security -- the perimeter security was outsourced to a Libyan militia. And then on top of that, you have to have an extraction plan in place, the ability to bring military assets quickly to respond to any threat of life that might exist. That also was not in place.

So all three of these things tell you there was a massive systemic failure here, and the buck has to start at the top, and that would be Hillary Clinton during her time at the State Department.

HANNITY: All right, Senator, to me, this is a before, during and after issue. Before, security was denied, 600 separate requests. During, I interviewed people that were at the annex. They told us there was a stand-down order given. Two individuals, including Ty Woods -- they defied that order to help save fellow American lives! We still don't have sufficient answer, even recognition that it was given.

And then we have two separate issues on the after part. And that is Clinton e-mailed her family and said this was an al Qaeda-like group that made the attack the night of the attack. The next day, she told the Egyptian prime minister, We know the attack in Libya had flog to do with a film. It was a planned attack.

So it seems before, security denied, during, assistance denied, after, a lie and a coverup. And she knew the truth! What should be the consequences for an elaborate lie like that?

RUBIO: Well, look, it gives you great insight into the way they conduct their performances and how they do things. That Sunday, they sent Susan Rice on the talk shows to say that this was what it was, and even while she was already expressing significant doubt about whether that was the case.

And again, it goes back to the narrative at the time. They did not want the narrative to be that there were radicals active in Libya. They wanted the narrative to be that the operation had been successful, that Libya was transitioning. And they didn't want the narrative to be that there were organized groups on the ground capable of conducting terrorist attacks.

So they wanted it some sort of spontaneous things, you know, caused by a video in the West. Of course, it had nothing to do with the video. They knew that very early on. At least she sure did. And yet she stood by and said or did nothing while different individuals in the administration were going out and telling people that this, in fact, was a spontaneous attack led by a handful of people, not an organize terrorist plot to kill Americans.

HANNITY: You know, we had the announcement yesterday by Joe Biden, Senator. You now, by the way, have gone up pretty significantly in polls. You're now in double digits in many of them.

Would you prefer to run against Hillary? Do you think a person that is viewed by 60 percent of America as dishonest and untrustworthy could be elected president?

RUBIO: I don't. And I think if you look at the trail of behavior here over a long period of time, she has always felt and the Clintons have always felt that they operate above the law, that there's a set of rules for one group of people and then a set of rules for them.

And I think credibility is the most important thing, one of the most important things a president needs. And obviously, if we are the nominee, we look forward to exploring those differences.

But I think the bigger problem she has is how far to the left she continues to move in order to keep up with Bernie Sanders. if you saw the debate last week, what you're basically seeing is a Democratic Party that's being taken over by a radical left-wing element within that party.

I mean, Bernie Sanders is an avowed and admitted socialist. He talks about how he wants the U.S. to be like Denmark and Norway and other countries such as this, as far as the government's role. And you can see that on issue after issue, she is chasing to cover her left flank. And I think that's going to be a big problem, these extremist positions that they're adopting.

HANNITY: All right, Senator, we really appreciate your time. Thanks for being with us.

RUBIO: Thank you.

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