House committee members turn on each other as Republicans fail to land a blow over former secretary of state’s conduct surrounding Libya consulate attack

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

It was supposed to be the pivotal moment of the presidential campaign, with Hillary Clinton finally facing the music after her controversial tenure at the State Department. But after a nearly 11-hour hearing on Benghazi, she walked away unscathed.



It seemed her biggest obstacle turned out to be a late-night coughing fit. Otherwise Clinton calmly navigated Republican questions on her role before and after the 2012 terrorist attack on the US consulate in Libya where four Americans were killed, including the ambassador, Chris Stevens.

Unable to land a blow on Clinton, members of the committee rounded on each other. The first fireworks erupted about halfway through the day-long hearing when the two top members of the panel, chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina and ranking member Elijah Cummings of Maryland, burst into a partisan shouting match. Clinton looked on with a bemused smile.

The House Republicans didn’t fail for want of trying. From the first question the battle lines were drawn. Representative Peter Roskam became irritated when Clinton looked at her notes as he asked her a lengthy question about a 2011 memo.

“I can pause while you’re reading your notes from your staff,” the Illinois Republican said.

Clinton snapped back: “I can do more than one thing at a time, congressman.”

In contrast it seemed House Republicans were unable to push more than one narrative at a time.

At one point in the hearing the questioning focused on Clinton’s relationship with Sidney Blumenthal, a former White House aide and journalist (who has previously written for the Guardian).

Hillary Clinton deflects conservative jabs in 11-hour House Benghazi hearing Read more

Republicans zeroed in on emails Clinton exchanged with Blumenthal about the situation in Libya. The former White House aide made a tempting target. Nicknamed “grassy knoll” in the Clinton administration over his propensity for conspiracy theories, Blumenthal was reported blackballed from a State Department job under Clinton after two top Obama aides, including David Axelrod, threatened to resign.

Republicans focused on the fact that Clinton was constantly exchanging with Blumenthal, while harping on the fact that Stevens did not seem to have her personal email. Democrats were mystified. “I just don’t understand the preoccupation with Sidney Blumenthal,” said California Democrat Adam Schiff. “You would think he was in Benghazi that night manning the barricades.”

Axelrod, meanwhile, took to Twitter to take shots at both Republicans and Blumenthal within the terse constraints of 140 characters.



David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) Ironic that career kibitzer and conspiratorialist Sidney Blumenthal should be elevated to epic heights in GOP Benghazi conspiracy theory.

Perhaps the most bizarre line of questioning was when Alabama Republican Martha Roby wandered into sexual innuendo. Roby asked Clinton why she went home on the night of the attack rather than stay at the State Department.



“Were you alone?” Roby asked.

“I was alone, yes,” Clinton replied.

Roby continued: “The whole night?”

“Well yes, the whole night,” Clinton said, breaking into laughter, as did others. Roby, however, was not. “I don’t know why that’s funny,” she admonished Clinton.

Republicans might have hoped Clinton would break down in frustration – akin to her “what difference does it make” outburst in a 2013 appearance on Benghazi before a Senate committee.

But it was ranking member Cummings who obliged in delivering that moment. Late into the hearing, the Maryland Democrat erupting with a bellow that jolted the fatigued crowd. “I don’t know what we want from you!” the Maryland Democrat told Clinton.

“Do we want to bash you over and over again? We’re better than that … We are better than using taxpayer dollars to destroy a campaign.” He turned to Clinton: “You can comment if you like, I just had to get that off my chest.” Onlookers burst into applause.

Clinton replied: “It is deeply unfortunate that something as serious as what happened in Benghazi could ever be used for partisan political purposes.”

For all the politics, the hearing televised all day on cable news was as much an entertainment event and at times felt like a Hollywood premiere: with spectators ranging from interns eager for a glance at Clinton to fringe, longshot congressional candidates, and other high-powered onlookers both Democrat and Republican.

Among them was retired member of Congress Ron Barber of Arizona, one of seven Democrats to vote for the creation of the Benghazi committee in 2014.

He bashed the day’s events as “a political charade” and delivered a memorable assessment. “There’s no there there,” he told the Guardian. “It’s just fishing that’s not catching any fish at all.” While Barber did not regret his initial vote to create the committee, he thought it’s time had passed. “I think we should close the damn thing down.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chairman Trey Gowdy, left, hovers as Hillary Clinton is greeting by ranking member and fellow Democrat Elijah Cummings. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

By the end of the night there were roughly 10 Democratic members present. When the hearing finally wrapped up they flocked to Clinton, eager to pay tribute not just to their party’s frontrunner but to the day’s winner.

While Clinton hobnobbed, Gowdy stood awkwardly to the side, waiting to shake her hand. Clinton aide Huma Abedin had to steer the former secretary of state away from an animated conversation with Cummings and into a pro forma exchange with the committee’s chair.

The Longworth Office Building remained humming with activity long after the hearing. Committee Republicans held a brief conference where they bemoaned having learned nothing new. Clinton just rolled out surrounded by her entourage and joking in regard to the day’s trials that “yes, yes, yoga always helps!”.

After her performance, the eventual Republican nominee for president might want to master the Downward Dog ahead of next year’s debates.