On Thursday, Oct. 22, Republican lawmakers spent more than eight hours and 20 minutes aggressively questioning former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. They were seeking to build a case on Clinton’s supposed negligence in guarding the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya months before the 2012 terrorist attacks. The attacks led to the deaths of four Americans.
On Sept. 11, 2012, an unidentified group of men launched an attack on an American compound in Benghazi. The attack opened Clinton up to Republican criticism and questioned whether or not she was telling the whole truth.
During the long day, several impatient exchanges were made between the committee members and Clinton concerning the attacks that have been the subject of seven previous investigations.
Those investigations did not include any significant revelations regarding what happened in both Benghazi and Washington that night. However, they gave Republicans a chance to carefully examine what they believe are still unanswered questions regarding the attack.
According to the Washington Post, Democrats on the panel did not want the hearing to proceed in the first place.
Early on in the hearing, Elijah Cummings, Democratic representative for Maryland and member on the Benghazi panel, said, “It is time now for the Republicans to end this taxpayer-funded fishing expedition.”
Publications like Bloomberg News reported that Conservatives view the Benghazi hearing as a “bust.”
John Dean, a former White House counsel for Richard Nixon, who is now a political independent, spoke on MSNBC a few hours into the Benghazi hearing.
“A hearing that was once a threat has really become an opportunity for her,” Dean said. “I think this is really Hillary’s day. It’s going to help her presidential campaign. As somebody who’s been both a witness and a counsel, this is a textbook example of how to be a good witness.”
