Rand Paul skewered Hillary Clinton for Benghazi ahead of her 2016 presidential announcement during his appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
The Kentucky senator, who launched his own presidential campaign last week, told CNN anchor Dana Bash that “Benghazi was a 3am phone call that [Clinton] never picked up” while serving as secretary of State in 2012.
“I think really that the issue in Benghazi is an enormous issue because it’s whether or not as commander in chief she’d be there for the 3am phone call,” explained Paul of Hillary. “I think Benghazi was a 3am phone call that she never picked up.”
“She didn’t provide the security — not just that day — for nine months. Dozens and dozens of requests for more security all completely ignored by Hillary Clinton,” the Republican senator added.
Paul has been consistently and extremely vocal about his criticism of Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi terror attack, earlier this year claiming that her failure to provide adequate security to the U.S. consulate in Libya should “preclude” her from becoming president.
When asked whether or not Clinton did anything commendable while at her State Department post, Paul answered, “I’m not so certain of that.”
“I think she took her eye off a very important zone,” he expanded. “She was also a big believer in putting arms indiscriminately into the Syrian civil war. I think that made ISIS stronger.”
Clinton, who is expected to announce her bid for president Sunday via a video message on social media, will undoubtedly be Paul’s principal Democratic challenger in 2016 should he secure the GOP nomination for president.
