AL Democratic chairwoman approves of Hillary Clinton’s answers in Benghazi hearing
“I am not”, said Clinton.
Pelosi has insisted, as she reiterated Thursday, “You have to be in the room to defend the truth”.
Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Illinois, thought he saw a smoking gun in an email correspondence from August 2011 in which Blumenthal encouraged Clinton to “make a public statement before the cameras” when Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi was deposed. Grateful for Clinton’s performances at the Democratic National Convention and on the campaign trail, Obama dubbed the 42nd president the “explainer-in-chief”, or the “Secretary of Explaining Stuff”. “Her temperament was exactly what you want to see from a future president and I think voters will respond to that”.
Smith’s mother, Patricia, gave a similar account, saying she was told by the administration “it was a video when they knew it was not a video”. His latest target was the most recent round of congressional hearings on the 2012 attacks in Libya, which Hillary Clinton has been grilled about for years.
Clinton, who is the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, appeared largely unscathed from her much-anticipated testimony before the committee.
But Gowdy knew. A couple of minutes later, he announced: “I’ll tell you what: If you think you’ve heard about Sidney Blumenthal so far, wait until the second round”.
Sen Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, which did its own investigation into the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans, said Clinton’s performance “was entirely presidential, considered, showed tremendous personal reserve”. This is a contrast to her 2013 Senate testimony where she lost her temper and asked “what difference does it make?” The hearing did reveal what this committee is all about.
Subcontracting security to militia groups isn’t always a misstep either – in fact, it might be essential in cases when there’s no state to step in and help guarantee the safety of USA personnel, as there was in Benghazi in 2012.
THE FACTS: Clinton’s assertion that her actions were “allowed” is misleading. Instead, amid questioning that often bordered on a courtroom-style interrogation, Clinton avoided any major gaffes, and sought to portray herself above the partisan fray as committee members bickered.
Democrats on the panel echoed that theme.
The challenge for Clinton now, said Axelrod, “is to keep that rigor and not settle back into the posture of cautious, calculating frontrunner”.
In one tense moment, Republican Representative Jim Jordan accused Clinton of deliberately misleading the public by linking the Benghazi violence at first to an Internet video insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. The former secretary of state’s high marks for the congressional hearing capped a week in which three of her five Democratic rivals bowed out of the race – none more important than Vice President Joe Biden, who said he wouldn’t be getting in.
Grilling Ms. Clinton all day, they elicited little new information and offered little hope that their inquiry would find anything significant that seven previous investigations didn’t.
“The American people in the last six weeks have learned a lot about lot about Hillary, what she is for, why she is running and what kind of president she would be”, Clinton said in an open-air rally here.
But to Republicans, they are likely to be seized on as evidence that the administration was not upfront about the nature of the attacks. “But you have to deeply admire that strength and persistence”, Plouffe said.
And the furor over the private email server she used as secretary of state – uncovered by the Benghazi panel – is being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has all the hallmarks of a political imbroglio that will be tough to shake.
In this case, given the thousands of pages of documents relating to the Benghazi investigation, one would expect a few inconsistencies from even the most honest of witnesses during the course of a long day of questioning.
At the end of the 11th hour – and after a brief coughing fit – Clinton could no longer hide her contempt for the Republican-led committee, and particularly Gowdy.