Obama's chief American envoy nominee says trade is top priority

WASHINGTON (AP):

President Barack Obama's choice as chief American envoy for Europe told a Senate panel Thursday that she would make the expansion of trade and democracy top priorities if confirmed.

But some Republicans wanted to know more about her former State Department boss, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the deadly attacks against Americans last year in Benghazi, Libya.

Appearing for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Victoria Nuland spoke in soaring terms about reviving "foundations of global leadership and our democratic, free market way of life". Growth and jobs are needed on both sides of the Atlantic, she said.

Nobody argues with that. And none disputed Nuland's qualifications for the job to which she is nominated.

Of more interest to Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, was whether Nuland felt that Americans deserved the truth about Benghazi, what people specifically she meant when she cited concerns about the administration's talking points held by her "building's leadership".