Politics

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing with Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides (right), who is in charge of management, and Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns (left), who is in charge of policy, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, after an independent review panel said this week that serious bureaucratic mismanagement was responsible for inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi, Libya, at which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed on Sept. 11. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns (left), who is in charge of policy, and Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides (second from left), who is in charge of management, leave a hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed on Sept. 11. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had been scheduled to testify but canceled after fainting and sustaining a concussion last week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns (left) and Thomas R. Nides, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, speak before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012, on the Benghazi attack. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual hours-long news conference in Moscow on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes the leaders of member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Yuri Kochetkov, Pool)

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President Barack Obama speaks at the Diplomatic Corps Holiday Reception at the State Department, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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** File ** Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec 17, 2012. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** President Obama speaks at a news conference in the briefing room of the White House on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

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Vice President Joseph R. Biden listens as President Obama announces his assignment to head a task force to look into the causes of gun violence. Mr. Biden is to consult Cabinet officials and outside groups and submit proposals to the president by the end of January. (Associated Press)

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Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist once was a prominent figure in the Republican Party, but he left the GOP and declared himself an independent before aligning with the Democrats. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio addresses reporters on the fiscal cliff negotiations on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. Boehner says President Obama should support a Republican plan to avoid January tax increases on everyone but those earning over $1 million. Boehner says if Obama doesn't support the measure, the president will be responsible for what he calls "the largest tax increase in history." (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)