RNC:
FACT: Sec. Clinton did not defend Assad and referenced the opinion of others in labeling him as a reformer. According to Politifact’s Pundifact, “So Clinton did refer to Assad as ‘a reformer.’ But she crafted the line as the opinion of ‘members of Congress of both parties,’ not her opinion. And she never defended (as [Chris]Wallace said) Assad, instead saying in that interview that he ‘exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see.’ Still, Clinton’s comments were widely reported and criticized… Criticizing parts of Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, Wallace said Clinton ‘defended Syria’s President Assad as a possible reformer at the start of that country’s civil war.’ Clinton’s original comments in March 2011 were not that straightforward. The statement in question was actually, ‘Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.’ Clinton was talking about the beliefs of Congress and didn’t ‘defend’ Assad, as Wallace put it, instead saying that the use of force that he deployed was more ‘than any of us would want to see.’” [PunditFact, Politifact, 6/1/14]
FACT: Sec. Clinton said Syria’s Assad was “not indispensable, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power.” According to a Congressional Research Service report for Congress, “In the wake of the embassy incident, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the strongest declaration yet against the Asad government. In part seeking to respond to speculation that the United States wants the Asad regime to remain in power, she stated that: ‘From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy…. If anyone, including President Assad, thinks the United States is secretly hoping that the regime will emerge from the turmoil to continue its brutality and repression, they are wrong. President Assad is not indispensable, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power.’” [“Unrest in Syria and U.S. Sanctions Against the Asad Regime,” Congressional Research Service, state.gov, 8/9/11]