Secretary of State Hillary Clinton momentarily lost her cool Wednesday morning during a hearing on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, blasting Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) after he accused the White House of misleading the public about the attack. Johnson started things off by dismissing her assertion that the immediate aftermath of the attack was too chaotic for the State Department to "interfere" and determine the precise nature of the attack. "I realize that's a good excuse," Johnson said.

"Well, no, it's the fact," Clinton tartly responded.

Johnson continued to assail the administration for its initial claim that the attack stemmed from a spontaneous riot. That's when Clinton went off (it starts around the 2:55 mark in the video above): "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans! Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"

She went on to say, "It is our job to figure out what happened, and to do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator."

Democrats have long viewed the GOP's obsession with Benghazi as a political witch hunt, and Clinton's impassioned response is already being seen as an expression of frustration at how Republicans have politicized the issue. Republicans, on the other hand, suggest that Clinton herself is the one politicizing the issue.