Hillary Clinton plans to address Syria at the White House Monday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/09/hillary-clinton-plans-to-address-syria-at-the-white-house-monday/
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state and
potential 2016 presidential candidate, is planning to make remarks about the
intensifying situation in Syria
during a visit to the White House on Monday.
Clinton has not personally
addressed the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack that U.S.
officials say was carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime or
how she believes the United
States should respond. Although an aide
issued a statement last Tuesday saying she supports President Obama’s effort to
seek authorization from Congress for a retaliatory strike.
A full embrace by Clinton
could help Obama as he tries to marshal support from lawmakers — including many
House Democrats who have voiced deep reservations about the United States taking military action in Syria.
It comes as Obama is stepping up his own lobbying campaign,
sitting down for interviews with six television news networks on Monday and
addressing the nation on Tuesday evening.
Clinton is likely to address Syria during her Monday afternoon appearance at
the White House as well as at a speech on Tuesday in Philadelphia, according to a person familiar
with her plans.
Clinton
will be at the White House for a forum on combating wildlife trafficking, one
of the charitable causes she is pursuing at the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea
Clinton Foundation. She will be joined by her daughter, Chelsea, as well as by
Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.
Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser who
accompanied Obama on his overseas trip last week and has been a key adviser on Syria
policy, also is scheduled to appear at the wildlife trafficking event, which
begins at 1 p.m.
On Tuesday, just two hours before Obama addresses the nation
from the White House, Clinton will accept an
award from the National Constitution Center
in Philadelphia.
Clinton has
said she would use the appearance to deliver a major address on surveillance
policy and transparency issues.