Republicans owe Rice an apology on Benghazi, Obama adviser says

FILE - This June 7, 2012 file photo shows U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice listening during a news conference at the UN. Senior State Department officials pressed for changes in the talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used after the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya last September, expressing concerns that Congress might criticize the Obama administration for ignoring warnings of a growing threat in Benghazi. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) (A2012)

WASHINGTON – White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday Republicans owe Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, an apology for alleging she played a part in formulating the White House’s response to the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, last year that killed four Americans.

Pfeiffer said on ABC’s “This Week” that the release of more than 100 pages of Benghazi emails and notes show “beyond a shadow of the doubt” that accusations she tried to change the narrative of what happened in the attacks was false.

"And, frankly, I think that many of the Republicans who have been talking about this, now that they have seen the emails, owe Ambassador Rice an apology for the things they said about her in the wake of the attack,” he said.

“An apology for what?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.

“For accusing her of misleading the country,” Pfeiffer said, adding, “For saying that she didn't -- that somehow we were -- she was involved in some sort of political whitewash of what happened there. What she said was what the intelligence community believed at the time. And when we got further information, we told the American people what that was. That's how people know what happened here.”

Pfeiffer’s comments aren’t likely to sit well with some, like GOP lawmakers like Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain, who led the charge against her and claimed she played an active role in the conspiracy to hide what actually happened during the Benghazi attacks.