WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Monday rejected a demand from a senior Republican lawmaker that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations resign.

Rep. Peter King of New York said last week Susan Rice’s explanation of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was a foreign policy failure.

He told CNN that Rice – a possible candidate for secretary of state if President Barack Obama wins re-election – should resign for comments she made five days after the attack, saying the evidence gathered at that point indicated it was not a premeditated or coordinated strike.