Republicans draw blood as Susan Rice ends her Secretary of State bid Ms Rice, who would have needed approval by a majority in the US Senate, was braced for further claims that she deliberately misrepresented the attack as the result of protests against an anti-Islamic film. "That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country," she said in a letter to Mr Obama. Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time. Mr Obama hailed Ms Rice's public service. "Her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first," he said in his statement. In a curt statement, a spokesman for Mr McCain said that the veteran Arizona senator "thanks Ambassador Rice for her service to the country and wishes her well." Ms Rice, who is renowned at the UN for her robust style, was tipped as a future Secretary of State since Mr Obama's triumphant 2008 election campaign, which she served as a senior foreign policy adviser. She was viewed as narrow favourite over Senator John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential nominee, to take over as America's most senior diplomat after Mrs Clinton announced she would stand down after one term. However, Ms Rice's chances receded after the senior Republican senators led by Mr McCain - Mr Obama's opponent in 2008 - pledged after last month's election to block her appointment. It was widely noted that Ms Rice had accused Mr McCain during the 2008 campaign of being "reckless" and unsuitable for the White House over his hawkish foreign policy stances. The Republicans - Mr McCain, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire - accused Ms Rice of whitewashing al-Qaeda's role in the attack in order to limit political damage to Mr Obama's re-election campaign. In a series of television interviews during the following weekend, she erroneously claimed it was the result of the spontaneous demonstration outside the Benghazi compound, rather than a pre-planned assault by a local al-Qaeda affiliate, as was later confirmed. Mr McCain promised at a press conference last month to do "everything in my power" to block Ms Rice from the job until he received answers on why she provided incorrect information. Mr Obama reacted furiously, using his first press conference after re-election to describe the attacks as "outrageous." "If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me," said a visibly angry Mr Obama. He said Ms Rice had been speaking from "talking points" edited by the security agencies, which his intelligence chief later confirmed. Remaining hopes that Republicans might withdraw their opposition faded at the end of last month, after a bad-tempered meeting between Ms Rice and the three Republican senators. All three rejected her testimony, adding that their concerns were "greater today than they were before." They accused Ms Rice of failing to provide even "basic answers" on the administration's failure to make clear the role of al-Qaeda in the attack. She was also facing questions over whether her family stood to profit from a potential energy pipeline from Canada into the US, and over her former business links to Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president.