Rand Paul: Promoting Susan Rice undermines Obama's 'moral authority'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday said that President Barack Obama was undermining his own "moral authority" by naming United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice as the new national security advisor because she had misled the public about last year's attacks in Benghazi.

"You know, I think the president's been struggling to regain the moral authority to lead the nation and this doesn't really encourage anyone," Paul told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. "To reappoint or to promoted basically the person who is guilty of misleading us over the Benghazi tragedy, I can't imagine, one, that we would be keeping Ambassador Rice in any any significant position, much less promoting her to an important position."

"How are they going to have the authority for people to believe what they're saying when he's promoting someone who directly and deliberately misled the public over Benghazi?" the Kentucky Republican opined. "The Benghazi tragedy is really not going to go away until we have some answers. Really, why was there this elaborate cover up?"

About two months after attacks in Benghazi last September, Paul had said that Republicans were making a mistake by focusing on Rice.

"The person who decided to have no Marines guarding the ambassador should be fired, just plain and simple," he told CNN. "I don't think that's Susan Rice. I think we get involved with Ambassador Rice and we're getting off subject."

Watch this video from Fox News' America's Newsroom, broadcast June 5, 2013.