Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the hot seat by Republicans about her leadership at the State Department before and after the 2012 attacks on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, will she be able to hold up her weight for the eight hours? GOP members of the House Select Committee on Benghazi questioned Clinton about her awareness of the deteriorating security situation in Libya and about her role in forming the nation’s overall strategy in the troubled region; this alone may make or break her presidential campaign.
Fresh off her successful presidential campaign, speaking out on the major topics of the people, Clinton now has to speak out a major topic she has been dodging for too long: the 2012 Benghazi attack. The 2012 Benghazi attack took place on the evening of September 11, 2012, when Islamic militants attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith. During this horrific event Hilary Clinton was President Obama’s Secretary of State. Several hours later, a second assault targeted a different compound about one mile away, killing two CIA contractors, Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.Ten others were also injured in the attacks.
The United States had immediately increased security worldwide at diplomatic and military facilities and began investigating the Benghazi attack while under fire. However, in the aftermath of the attack, State Department officials were criticized for denying requests for additional security at the consulate prior to the attack. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton subsequently took responsibility for the security lapse. Now, Clinton must answer for these actions, or one could say, failure to action.
At the beginning of what is set to be eight exhausting hours of testimony, Clinton, reading slowly from her notes, somberly paid tribute to the four Americans killed: U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. While the Republicans continue to ask of her relation in her advising with the CIA and President Obama. Clinton’s primary response to pressure was that she indeed takes full responsibility for the faults in her response in the situation but reiterated that she had evaluated and tackled the incident with her best possible option with the people being her number one order of protection and priority, elaborating by saying, “I took responsibility and, as part of that, before I left office I launched reforms to help protect our people in the field,”. Republicans simply aren’t having it, asking, “Why were there so many requests for security equipment and personnel and why were those requests denied in Washington?” asked committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy in his opening statement. “What did our leaders in Washington do or not do, and when?” Under the hot seat, Clinton emphasized several times that she did not see requests for additional security at the diplomatic compound and neither approved nor denied those requests. While Clinton defends her stance, the Republicans will continue to press the situation as they attempt to get the answers they want; will Hilary Clinton fold under the pressure? You be the judge, watch the live stream of the hearing now:
Source: NBC News
