WASHINGTON – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reduced to a spectator at one point while appearing in front of a special committee investigating the deadly attack on an American diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya in 2012.
With her head resting on her hand, Clinton answered questions for hours on Thursday, but did not conceal her lack of enthusiasm for some of the inquiries. She was not the only one letting her body language speak louder than her words.
When top Democrat Elijah Cummings was approached by an aide who whispered something to him, he bolted forward, leaning only inches away from the microphone in front of him. Next came a fiery exchange with the committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy R-S.C.
Rep. Cummings, D-Md., in a booming voice said that Gowdy was only releasing emails that made Clinton look bad. He urged the committee to release more information on the closed committee testimony of Sidney Blumenthal, a onetime White House aide to former President Bill Clinton, and a confidant of Hillary Clinton.
Blumenthal is the man behind emails that included information and advice on Benghazi that Secretary Clinton said came to her inbox unsolicited.
Rather than cherry pick emails, Cummings wants the committee to release the transcript of Blumenthal’s testimony about his role so the public can read it in context.
“I move that we put into the record the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal. We’re going to release the e-mails; let’s do the transcript. That way the world can see it,” Cummings demanded.
During the blistering exchange between Cummings and Gowdy, Clinton sat at the witness table with an unbothered look on her face and sometimes nodded in agreement.
Gowdy kept focusing on Blumenthal, a private citizen at the time he was corresponding with Clinton. Gowdy asked Clinton numerous times about Blumenthal’s intentions when sending the information to her.
“You wrote to him [Blumenthal], ‘another keeper, thanks and please keep them coming,’ greetings from Kabul and thanks for keeping this stuff coming, any other info about it question mark,’ ” Gowdy said as he peppered Clinton, while quoting from an email conversation between the secretary of state and Blumenthal.
Clinton sat calm and listening attentively. In one instance, as she sifted through papers in front of her, Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., asked if she wanted a “pause” in the questioning.
The lawmakers on the committee freely showed their emotions, sometimes raising their voices and showing irritation with Secretary Clinton and other members of the special committee.
The Benghazi panel, which has been investigating the tragedy in Benghazi for 18 months, has been under scrutiny after Republican leaders insinuated that its purpose was to impede in Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Four Americans were killed, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, when terrorists attacked the compound on the evening of September 11, 2012.