Senate Democrats have repeatedly called on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to shut it down.
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The top Democrat on the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks in Libya said on Sunday Democrats won’t leave the panel in protest.
In contrast with the adversarial tone of much of Thursday’s hearings, Clinton’s statement was characterized by fulsome gratitude as she singled out the Republicans on the committee for praise.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees also endorsed Clinton on Friday, giving her the backing of an important union.
Democratic USA presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Friday denounced as “pathetic” and “totally ridiculous” a Republican congressman’s call to impeach her on her first day in office if she is elected to the White House next year.
Mrs Clinton, 67, stayed out of the political fray during several heated arguments between Republicans and her Democratic allies and remained composed under the aggressive questioning from Republican lawmakers on Thursday. – On communications between USA personnel in Libya and the State Department in Washington, about security needs at the Benghazi compound before the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. In the emails, Clinton identified the incident as a “planned attack” by an “al Qaeda-like group” and indicated that she knew it “had nothing to do with the [anti-Islam] film” that she and President Obama publicly blamed it on afterwards.
She continued her offensive during the hearing, referring to the House committee and saying, “I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together”. “I have been racking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done”.
Even Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, acknowledged that the hearings yielded nothing new. He sought to deflect recent comments by fellow Republicans describing the investigation as an effort to lower Clinton’s poll standings.
Mrs Clinton denied longstanding Republican allegations that she turned down requests to beef up security in Benghazi.
What the administration said behind closed doors, however, was a different story.
“In the private interviews, there is never any of what you saw Thursday”, Gowdy said. But said he did not know whether the embattled panel gained credibility.
“The reality is that after 17 months, we have nothing new to tell the families”.
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It has to be said: Whether the committee is a partisan project charged with destroying Clinton’s presidential hopes, or a truth-seeking crusade to uncover her as-yet-undocumented negligence in the Benghazi attacks, it accomplished neither.
