The Benghazi chairman was stumped on a simple question about Hillary Clinton’s

Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama, however, drew laughter from Clinton by asking if she was alone “the whole night” of the attacks after returning home.

This time Mrs. Clinton kept her calm as Mr. Jordan pressed her, highlighting emails that he said proved the State Department had intentionally misled the public about whether protests related to the video had led to the attack. And it reflected the raw emotion the deadly violence still provokes, something Clinton will face over the course of her White House bid even if the Republican-led investigation loses steam. But you overruled those career diplomats.

“I was under no obligation to make any of his emails available unless I decided they were work-related”, Clinton claimed. “Go ahead and read the note if you need to”.

CLINTON: “I did not email during the day and – except on rare occasions when I was able to”.

Democrats repeatedly charged that the majority Republicans were rehashing questions that had been answered in the many inquiries into the only death of a sitting ambassador since 1979. But still, he emailed Hillary Clinton, a lot, about Libya.

The hearing comes at a moment when Clinton is reestablishing herself as the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, following several months in which her poll numbers had nose-dived. “I have been racking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done”. “There were a lot of things that happened that I was aware of and that I was reacting to”. Jordan quoted from various State Department spokespersons, who made their remarks following the September 11, 2012 attack.

Mrs Clinton says requests by Ambassador Stevens and others for a security upgrade were not sent directly to her, though she had been briefed about the mounting risks. “If you ask our most experienced ambassadors, they’ll tell you they can’t do their jobs for us from bunkers”. “He didn’t have your personal email?” They had gone through hard, challenging, unsafe assignments together.

The Accountability Review Board cited a “lack of transparency, responsiveness, and leadership at senior bureau levels” and “shortfalls in Washington coordination” contributing to a “woefully insufficient” security force at the compound. A few of those requests were approved, others were not.

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Thursday said the House Select Committee on Benghazi exists exclusively to hound Hillary Clinton.

“It’s very personally painful accusation”. “But given the partisan divide and the partisan nature of this investigation, I think the two sides will remain deeply divided”.

Clinton, 67, calmly avoided the fray during the most heated exchanges between Republicans and her Democratic allies, and stayed composed under sometimes hostile and aggressive questions from Republican lawmakers.

Over the course of the day, lawmakers grilled Clinton about everything from her use of a private server while serving as secretary of state, to the rationale behind her support of an worldwide military incursion into Libya in the first place.

Clinton’s answer: “I did. Why didn’t you tell the American people exactly what you told the Egyptian prime minister?” “I’m sorry that it doesn’t fit your narrative”. But there won’t be a final conclusion. Those who want to believe the worst will believe the worst. She mostly smiled in mute agreement when Democrats called the exercise a partisan fishing expedition or a waste of taxpayer money.

He said, “9/11! We didn’t investigate 9/11… with the length and depth that we have chosen to investigate this”.

The general consensus seems to be, if you’re a Hillary fan, you thought she did great; if you’re a Gowdy fan, you thought he did great. As was immediately apparent from Congressman Trey Gowdy’s opening statement attacking Clinton, the House committee’s sole objective was to sabotage Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“The motion fails”, Gowdy said. That is what’s relevant. You knew the truth, but that’s not what the American people got. You selectively released his e-mails, they’re the only witness you’ve done that for. “And with that, we’re adjourned”. “I don’t know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous times she’s testified”. And I just can not allow any comment to be in the record in any way criticizing or disparaging them.