Lies, Damn Lies, and Testimony: Hillary Testifies About Benghazi

[Bill]

Hillary Clinton's Long-Awaited Benghazi Testimony Set to Begin

ABCNews

JUSTIN FISHEL

Updated 1 hr 31 mins ago

Democratic Presidential frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to spar this morning with Republican members of the House Select Committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Washington observers and political junkies have been fixated on this testimony -- beginning at 10 a.m. -- for months, waiting in anticipation to see what impact it may have on her campaign.

The pressure is on Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy to produce results or information that differs from Clinton's full day of Congressional testimony on the attack nearly 3 years ago.

The lead-up to today's testimony has seen vicious political sniping from Democrats on the committee, who have seized on remarks in recent days from two Republican congressman and one former committee staffer, each of whom suggested publicly that the committee has disproportionately focused its attention on attacking Clinton.


Gowdy has vehemently denied those claims, calling on his colleagues to "shut up" about what they don't know. Last Sunday Gowdy said in an interview with CBS he plans to question Clinton about her role in denying requests to increase security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi prior to the attack. He says thousands of previously unseen emails to and from Stevens obtained by his committee will help inform those questions.

The House Select Committee on Benghazi was created in May of 2014 with the purpose of conducting a full and complete investigation of the 2012 attack. Prior to Clinton's testimony today, the committee had held only three public hearings. Most of the testimony it has received so far has come in private sessions.

The aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the nearby CIA annex instantly became a source of political tension. President Obama faced questions about the military response, allegations he misled the public about the nature the attack, and lax diplomatic security in a war zone, all as he awaited a vote on his reelection the following month.

Numerous investigations and reports were written about what happened both on that night and in the lead up to the attack, and what needed to be done to ensure it wouldn't happen again. Two of the higher-profile reports were conducted by the Accountability Review Board (ARB), convened by Clinton herself who was Secretary of State at the time, and another later on by the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee.

In December of 2012, the ARB concluded that there was no protest before the attack (which the Obama administration has previously alleged), that the terrorist bore sole responsibility for the loss of life, and that "systematic failures of leadership and management deficiencies" at the State Department led to an "inadequate" security posture.

Clinton was never directly implicated in the report. Clinton has admitted that the State Department could have done more to address security needs in Benghazi prior to the attack, but said those decisions were left to other people and she has denied any wrongdoing.

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence focused on the CIA's response to the attack following accusations personnel on the ground were instructed to delay their response to the consulate, which was being overrun by militants less than one mile way. The report concluded that no such order had been given, despite contradictory witness accounts given by some contracted security officers who were there that night. It also concluded that a mixed group, including Al Qaeda affiliates, were responsible for the attacks. It found that there had been intelligence to support the administrations claims that the attack was borne out of a protest, but said there was early intelligence to counter that false assessment as well. The report declared itself as the "definitive House statement" on the Intelligence Community's involvement in the Benghazi attack.

Hillary Clinton's Long-Awaited Benghazi Testimony Set to Begin | abc13.com

[boracayjohnny]

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

[VatorMan]

What does it matter anyway ?

[Bill]

They should bring in those jet jockeys and their bosses from our Italian air base to tell the committee how they were told to stand down while our consulate was being attacked. Maybe Hillary can tell us exactly who gave that order.

[onedef92]

What does it matter how many times I lied?

[Will]

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

.

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

.

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

.

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

.

Originally Posted by boracayjohnny

Theater. Nothing will happen to her anyway.

[Olustee bus]

She tried her damndest to look busy while the Chairman made opening statements. She turned into a bobble head when Cummings spoke.

[onedef92]

Originally Posted by Olustee bus

She tried her damndest to look busy while the Chairman made opening statements. She turned into a bobble head when Cummings spoke.

She prolly chased a Xanax with a shot of Highland Park before she entered the room....

[stingraymyway]

If it were anyone else in this situation, they be hanged.

[mrvette]

Originally Posted by stingraymyway

If it were anyone else in this situation, they be hanged.

ONLY IF they had a R after their name......

[onedef92]

Is she really getting grilled or handily deflecting softball, let's-play-nice questions?

[Shrike6]

I would give my left one for a chance to throw some hardballs at her in there.
I'd peel the skin offa that beeotch.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Listening to Dana Loesch show on the radio in the car. She said Gowdy was going after Hellery pretty good.

[island14]

The next president of the United States of America

[Mike Mercury]

on the State Department email fiasco; the overall story is not getting told.

The reason why Hillary was lacksidasical/careless in choosing which server to send those emails on... she didn't take the job seriously.

For Hillary, the State Department job was nothing more than the next gig of her being a celebrity. She got into all the important meetings, attended all the luncheons, got included in all the important pictures; her name in national press almost daily. It was her chance to live the life of a rockstar. There was no "sense of duty" or "patriotism" in her taking the State Department gig.

The Democrats will eagerly partake in a discussion about the merit of a specific email; and whether the info sent over an open server was classified or not... or that it wasn't classified "at that time".

It's a trap and a diversion... don't fall for it. They want to keep the discussion away from who she really is as a person, and why she didn't take the position seriously to begin with.

She will not take the position of President serious either.

[Craig]

I'm not paying any attention; I figure I'll let Bret Baier tell me what happened at 6pm.

[onedef92]

Originally Posted by Craig

I'm not paying any attention; I figure I'll let Bret Baier tell me what happened at 6pm.

I'll bet Glenn Beck will be all over her today like flies on a Bantha, too.