“I take responsibility for what happened in Benghazi. I felt a responsibility for all 70,000 people working at the State Department and USAID. I take that very seriously,” former Secretary of State and White House hopeful Hillary Clinton told a high-profile investigation into the >2012 Benghazi attacks on Thursday.
The Democratic presidential frontrunner was making a highly-anticipated public appearance before the House committee.
The panel spent 17 months inquiring into the killing of J. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans by suspected Islamist militants who invaded the U.S. mission compound in the war-torn city of Benghazi with guns, grenades and mortars. She said the United States will never be able to prevent every terror attack.
“Chris Stevens understood that diplomats must operate in many places where our soldiers do not,” Clinton said in opening remarks. “Where there are no other boots on the ground and safety is far from guaranteed.”
“He understood we will never prevent every act of terrorism or achieve perfect security and that we inevitably must accept a level of risk to protect our country and advance our interests,” she told the panel.
The Benghazi committee has been deeply controversial, with a key Republican lawmaker saying the panel served to help damage Clinton’s standing in the presidential race.
‘Rise above partisanship’ Clinton called on Thursday for the inquiry members to rise above partisanship.
“My challenge to you, members of this committee, is the same challenge I put to myself,” she told the committee.
“Let’s be worthy of the trust the American people have bestowed upon us. They expect us to lead, to learn the right lessons, to rise above partisanship and to reach for statesmanship.”
Clinton’s long-awaited appearance follows months of controversy about her use of a private home email server for her State Department work, a set-up that surfaced in part because of the Benghazi committee’s demand last year to see her official records.
It also follows days of political brawling over whether the House select committee’s real goal was to puncture her front-running presidential prospects. The committee is made up of seven Republicans and five of Clinton’s fellow Democrats.
“Madame Secretary, I understand some people, frankly in both parties, have suggested this investigation is about you. Let me assure you it is not,” Gowdy told Clinton in his opening statement.
“Not a single member of this committee signed up for an investigation into you or your email system.”
The committee’s Democrats say they think there is little left to unearth on Benghazi that more than a half-dozen previous inquiries did not find.
A 2012 report by a government accountability review board sharply faulted State Department officials for providing "grossly" insufficient security in Benghazi, despite upgrade requests from Stevens and others in Libya.
