The seemingly endless investigation into Hillary Clinton’s role in the U.S. government’s handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks continued with a day-long hearing on Thursday. For over eight hours, Republicans grilled the former Secretary of State about her alleged neglecting to properly secure the American diplomatic mission in Libya, where four Americans were killed in terrorist attacks.
Republicans have admitted that the continued investigation has been politically motivated, in an effort to mar Clinton’s reputation and hurt her chances of being president in 2016. Her critics rarely brought up the email scandal that has plagued Clinton throughout the year, but when it was addressed, she held to the same response she always has: she regrets using a private server for her emails, but maintained that no classified information was exchanged on the server. The hearing held yesterday marked the first time in over two years that Clinton directly addressed her critics about the scandal.
While Democrats maintain that this is a continued attempt by Republicans to launch a partisan attack on Clinton, members of the GOP believe they are ignoring a crucial mishandling by the former Secretary of State that could be telling of her ability to handle future crises as president. This resulted in high tension and even shouting matches between the two sides throughout the hearing.
Though visibly tired by the end of the day, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with breaks, Clinton largely remained calm, composed and in control, which is being seen as a victory for the Democratic party. She took responsibility for the 2012 attacks, but maintained that she herself did not make the ultimate decision of whether or not to provide more security at the site the four Americans were based at. On multiple occasions she referenced the courage of the victims, particularly ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
House Democrats have noted that this investigation (seven have been conducted previous to this one) has cost millions of dollars and lasted longer than the Watergate investigation. Another interesting fact: Clinton’s aides have stated that from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday night, immediately after the long day of investigations ended, her campaign had its best fundraising hour yet. This probably says a thing or two about how people feel about what went down during the hearing.