Sen. Lindsey Graham on Defense, CIA Nominees: “No Confirmation Without Information”
Sen. Lindsey Graham says he plans to block President Obama’s nominees to head up the Department of Defense and the CIA until the White House releases more information about what happened on the night of the September attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. The South Carolina Republican says he won’t filibuster but he will try to put a hold on Chuck Hagel, the Defense nominee, and John Brennan, Obama’s choice to lead the CIA. Graham defended his stance saying that then-Sen. Joe Biden also asked for more information before a 2005 vote to confirm a nominee. “No confirmation without information," Graham said on CBS News. (Watch video after the jump.)
"I'm not going to stop until we get to the bottom of it," Graham said. "We know nothing about what the president did on the night of September 11, during a time of national crisis, and the American people need to know what their commander-in-chief did, if anything, during the eight-hour attack,” Graham said.
Also appearing on CBS, Sen. Jack Reed called Graham’s threat “unprecedented and unwarranted.” The Democrat from Rhode Island said that while “it’s completely appropriate” to ask questions, it’s an “overreaction” to then “turn around and say I’m going to block two key members of the president’s cabinet.”