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| Hillary Clinton testifies on Benghazi and emails in showdown with conservatives – live | Hillary Clinton testifies on Benghazi and emails in showdown with conservatives – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 3.39pm BST15:39 | |
| Clinton is turning her opening statement into something of a foreign policy campaign speech, arguing for an active, engaged diplomacy abroad and military force “as a last resort”. | |
| “Above all Chris understood that most people in Libya and everywhere reject the extremist argument that violence can ever be a path for dignity and justice. That’s what those thousands of Libyans were saying in the aftermath of his death. And he understood that there is no substitute for going beyond the embassy walls and doing the hard work of building relationships.” | |
| Clinton makes case for active FP: America must lead in a dangerous world and our diplomats must continue representing us in dangerous places | |
| “We have a responsibility to provide our diplomats [and contractors] on the ground with the resources they need.” | |
| 3.36pm BST15:36 | |
| Clinton begins talking about what she sees as the lessons of the Benghazi attacks, and for American diplomacy write large. | |
| “Chris Stevens understood that our diplomats must operate in many places where soldiers are not, where there are no other boots on the ground and where safety is not guaranteed. In fact he volunteered.” | |
| “Make no mistake, the risks are real. Terrorists have killed more than 65 diplomatic personnel since the 1970s, and more than 100 contractors and locally employed staff.” | |
| Clinton says that diplomats and security staff will “tell you they can’t do their jobs for us from bunkers.” | |
| “It would compound the tragedy,” she says, if the attacks “ended up undermining the work to which he and others devoted their lives”. | |
| 3.33pm BST15:33 | |
| She then offers small biographies of Sean Smith, Tyrone Wood and Glen Doherty, the State Department official and two CIA contractors killed. | |
| Clinton says she was the one who recommended Stevens to go to Libya, and that after the attacks she was there when the four bodies arrived back in the United States. | |
| “I took responsibility, and as part of that before I left office I launched reforms to better protect our people in the field and to help reduce the chance of another tragedy from happening in the future.” | |
| “What happened in Benghazi has been scrutinized,” she says, by a review board, Congress, and news organizations. | |
| 3.30pm BST15:30 | |
| Clinton's opening statement focuses on lives lost in Libya | |
| Clinton begins her opening statement, saying: “I’m here to honor the service of those four men. | |
| “The courage of the diplomatic security agency and the CIA officers who risked their lives that night, and the work their colleagues do every single day all over the world. | |
| I knew and admired Chris Stevens. He was one of our nations most accomplished diplomats. | |
| She says “there was no easy way” to get Stevens into Libya, but that “he found a way on a Greek cargo ship, just like a 19th century American envoy.” Clinton then talks about how thousands of Libyans took to the streets in protest of the attacks in their aftermath. | |
| Updated at 3.39pm BST | |
| 3.27pm BST15:27 | |
| Cummings wraps up his opening remarks, saying that yes, the investigation has turned up new material “But these documents and interviews do not show any nefarious activity. | |
| In fact, it’s just the opposite. The new information we have obtained confirms and corroborates the core facts we already knew from the eight previous investigations. They provide more detail, but they do not change the basic conclusions. | |
| It is time for Republicans to end this taxpayer-funded fishing expedition. | |
| 3.25pm BST15:25 | |
| Cummings notes that even Republican representative Kevin McCarthy, who was briefly the likely heir to lead the party, has himself suggested the committee has political motives. | |
| Cummings to Gowdy: "Why tell Republicans to shut up ... when they are telling the truth?" | |
| He attacks Republicans’ willingness to rearrange meetings and cancel hearings except to bring attention to Clinton, and says that they say they’re interested in the truth except “when they are attacking secretary Clinton with reckless accusations that are demonstrably false.” | |
| .@RepCummings calls out Fiorina, Huckabee, etc. for "wild Republican claims" about Clinton's involvement in Benghazi. #BenghaziCommittee | |
| 3.21pm BST15:21 | |
| Gowdy closes his opening statement: “We’re gonna find the truth because there is no statute of limitations on the truth.” | |
| Democratic representative Elijah Cummings, second-in-charge on the committee, takes over, saying he has “great respect” for Gowdy but says the chairman is wrong about the purpose of the committee itself. | |
| He takes Gowdy’s tone of righteous indignation and raises it several notches, turning the ire onto the Republicans who insisted on a committee after seven earlier investigation. | |
| The problem is that the Republican caucus did not like the answers they got from those investigations, so they set up this select committee with no rules, no deadline and an unlimited budget. And they set them loose, madame secretary, because you’re running for presdient. Clearly it is possible to conduct a serious bipartisan einvestigation. What is impossible is to deny that Republicans are spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars to derail secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign.” | |
| 3.16pm BST15:16 | |
| Gowdy defends the committee’s purpose, telling Clinton that it’s not about her, even if she’s “an important witness among half a hundred witnesses”. | |
| Let me assure you it is not [about you] and let me assure you why it is not. This investigation is about four people who were killed representing our country on foreign soil. It is about what happened before during and after the attacks that killed them. It is about what this country owes to those who risk their lives to serve it. And it is about a government’s obligation to tell the truth to the people that it purports to represent. … | |
| Not a single member of this committee signed up to investigate you or your email. | |
| 3.15pm BST15:15 | |
| Gowdy mentions that Clinton swore-in in private – but doesn’t say she swore-in on. Was it a Bible or a binder of talking points? A copy of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns? Truthers out there, let your imagination fly. | |
| Gowdy says Hillary has already been sworn-in in private — so no fresh ad footage of Clinton with her hand raised... | |
| 3.09pm BST15:09 | |
| Gowdy begins in a somber note, remembering the four Americans who died in Libya. He’s framing the mission of the Benghazi committee in the most exalted terms: “We owe them and each other the truth. The truth about why we were in Libya, the truth about what we were doing in Libya.” | |
| He talks about additional security, personnel, equipment requests, questions about where the military was positioned, and segues decently enough into a tone of outrage: “why was it so hard to get information from the very four men that these men served and sacrificed for.” | |
| Then he condemns previous investigations for not being “thorough” and were “either incapable or unwilling” to answer all the questions. He spins the committee’s doggedness – or pathological obsession, depending on your sympathies – as an admirable commitment to all the details, emails, documents, witnesses, etc. | |
| 3.03pm BST15:03 | 3.03pm BST15:03 |
| Clinton is in the chamber. She walks up to the committee members and shakes all their hands. She gives a little wave to the horde of photographers and iPhone photographers (ie reporters) reaching to take photos of her. | Clinton is in the chamber. She walks up to the committee members and shakes all their hands. She gives a little wave to the horde of photographers and iPhone photographers (ie reporters) reaching to take photos of her. |
| So it begins. With “a couple administrative matters” from Gowdy. Who says “we can take a break for any reason or no reason. If you or any one alerts me, we can take a break for any reason or for no reason.” | So it begins. With “a couple administrative matters” from Gowdy. Who says “we can take a break for any reason or no reason. If you or any one alerts me, we can take a break for any reason or for no reason.” |
| The atmosphere is electric. With the opportunity for breaks. If anyone needs one. Anyone? | The atmosphere is electric. With the opportunity for breaks. If anyone needs one. Anyone? |
| Updated at 3.06pm BST | |
| 2.57pm BST14:57 | 2.57pm BST14:57 |
| Let the cover-up conspiracy theories begin! Why won’t Clinton answer CNN’s questions? | Let the cover-up conspiracy theories begin! Why won’t Clinton answer CNN’s questions? |
| As she walked in, Hillary ignored my question and just said, "Good morning." | As she walked in, Hillary ignored my question and just said, "Good morning." |
| 2.54pm BST14:54 | 2.54pm BST14:54 |
| Another committee chair we’ll be seeing a lot of today. | Another committee chair we’ll be seeing a lot of today. |
| That's the chair @HillaryClinton will testify from at today's #BenghaziCommittee hearing. pic.twitter.com/Fzle5fss5z | That's the chair @HillaryClinton will testify from at today's #BenghaziCommittee hearing. pic.twitter.com/Fzle5fss5z |
| 2.46pm BST14:46 | 2.46pm BST14:46 |
| Who sits on the gallery of rogues of the Benghazi committee? My colleague Lauren Gambino (@lgamgam), with the bunch in the hearing room in Washington, writes in with a look at the two at the top. | Who sits on the gallery of rogues of the Benghazi committee? My colleague Lauren Gambino (@lgamgam), with the bunch in the hearing room in Washington, writes in with a look at the two at the top. |
| Representative Trey Gowdy: Known for his prosecutorial style and platinum hair, the South Carolina Republican was chosen to lead the committee’s investigation into Benghazi to do precisely the opposite of what critics accuse him of doing: staging political theater. | Representative Trey Gowdy: Known for his prosecutorial style and platinum hair, the South Carolina Republican was chosen to lead the committee’s investigation into Benghazi to do precisely the opposite of what critics accuse him of doing: staging political theater. |
| From the outset, Gowdy promised his pursuit would be nonpartisan and “fact-centric” with a focus in finding out what happened during the deadly 2012 attack, but recent accusations, by members of his party and a former staffer, suggest that the investigation has evolved into a partisan attack on Hillary Clinton. | From the outset, Gowdy promised his pursuit would be nonpartisan and “fact-centric” with a focus in finding out what happened during the deadly 2012 attack, but recent accusations, by members of his party and a former staffer, suggest that the investigation has evolved into a partisan attack on Hillary Clinton. |
| Meanwhile, Democrats and newspaper editorial boards have called for the committee to be disbanded, putting the hard-nosed former federal prosecutor on the defensive. In a recent interview with Politico, Gowdy said that the run-up to Thursday’s hearing have been “among the worst weeks of my life”. The Republican knows the stakes are high – the showdown with Clinton promises to be among the biggest of his political career. | Meanwhile, Democrats and newspaper editorial boards have called for the committee to be disbanded, putting the hard-nosed former federal prosecutor on the defensive. In a recent interview with Politico, Gowdy said that the run-up to Thursday’s hearing have been “among the worst weeks of my life”. The Republican knows the stakes are high – the showdown with Clinton promises to be among the biggest of his political career. |
| Representative Elijah Cummings: Top Democrat on the oversight committee, Cummings has made waves acting as one of the Obama administration’s fiercest defenders and routinely clashing with Republicans over high-profile investigations. A Republican once muted his microphone to keep him from asking questions. | Representative Elijah Cummings: Top Democrat on the oversight committee, Cummings has made waves acting as one of the Obama administration’s fiercest defenders and routinely clashing with Republicans over high-profile investigations. A Republican once muted his microphone to keep him from asking questions. |
| Cummings, a ranking member of the Benghazi committee, has long-called the panel a “charade” and accused Republicans of using it to try to hurt Clinton’s 2016 campaign. He has also urged Republicans to release the transcripts from closed-door testimonies. In a recent interview on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Cummings predicted that Thursday would be a “sad day for all of us”. He added later: “We have strayed away from what we were supposed to be doing.” | Cummings, a ranking member of the Benghazi committee, has long-called the panel a “charade” and accused Republicans of using it to try to hurt Clinton’s 2016 campaign. He has also urged Republicans to release the transcripts from closed-door testimonies. In a recent interview on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Cummings predicted that Thursday would be a “sad day for all of us”. He added later: “We have strayed away from what we were supposed to be doing.” |
| Updated at 2.52pm BST | Updated at 2.52pm BST |
| 2.30pm BST14:30 | 2.30pm BST14:30 |
| Things are already getting a little weird on Capitol Hill. Republican language guru and all-round consultant Frank Luntz is at the scene, apparently ready to sprint into action in his colorful sneakers. | Things are already getting a little weird on Capitol Hill. Republican language guru and all-round consultant Frank Luntz is at the scene, apparently ready to sprint into action in his colorful sneakers. |
| Why is @FrankLuntz at the #Benghazi hearing? pic.twitter.com/L6F59tpByt | Why is @FrankLuntz at the #Benghazi hearing? pic.twitter.com/L6F59tpByt |
| Reporters are also predicting that Clinton will have to endure eight to 10 hours of questioning, with a lunch break at 1pm ET. But at least there’s taco salad. | Reporters are also predicting that Clinton will have to endure eight to 10 hours of questioning, with a lunch break at 1pm ET. But at least there’s taco salad. |
| Rejoice, Hillary press corps. It's taco salad day on Capitol Hill. | Rejoice, Hillary press corps. It's taco salad day on Capitol Hill. |
| 2.20pm BST14:20 | 2.20pm BST14:20 |
| After three years, 50 witnesses and 70,000 documents, Republican representatives still have questions for Hillary Clinton, and the American public has questions for everyone: what are they all even going to talk about at this point? | After three years, 50 witnesses and 70,000 documents, Republican representatives still have questions for Hillary Clinton, and the American public has questions for everyone: what are they all even going to talk about at this point? |
| My colleagues Dan Roberts (@robertsdan) and Ben Jacobs (@bencjacobs) answer the question about the questions. | My colleagues Dan Roberts (@robertsdan) and Ben Jacobs (@bencjacobs) answer the question about the questions. |
| Related: Hillary Clinton faces six key questions at congressional Benghazi hearing | Related: Hillary Clinton faces six key questions at congressional Benghazi hearing |
| 2.01pm BST14:01 | 2.01pm BST14:01 |
| Clinton, Benghazi, emails, deja vu – but 22 months and millions of dollars after the first round of Republicans vs (de facto) Democratic frontrunner, the stakes are higher for everyone involved, writes my colleague Lauren Gambino (@lgamgam) from the Capitol. | Clinton, Benghazi, emails, deja vu – but 22 months and millions of dollars after the first round of Republicans vs (de facto) Democratic frontrunner, the stakes are higher for everyone involved, writes my colleague Lauren Gambino (@lgamgam) from the Capitol. |
| While the date has been marked for some time, the circumstances of the hearing have changed dramatically in the past few weeks. Bolstered by a sharp debate performance, the security that vice-president Joe Biden will not launch a presidential run, and Republican comments that the panel is a political show aimed at damaging her poll numbers, Clinton heads into the hearing perhaps at her strongest since she announced her bid for the democratic nomination in April. | While the date has been marked for some time, the circumstances of the hearing have changed dramatically in the past few weeks. Bolstered by a sharp debate performance, the security that vice-president Joe Biden will not launch a presidential run, and Republican comments that the panel is a political show aimed at damaging her poll numbers, Clinton heads into the hearing perhaps at her strongest since she announced her bid for the democratic nomination in April. |
| But with more to gain and lose from the hearing than Republicans, Clinton is under pressure to perform at her best. | But with more to gain and lose from the hearing than Republicans, Clinton is under pressure to perform at her best. |
| She will begin her testimony by reflecting on the four Americans who lost their lives in the attack on the US’s outpost in Benghazi on 11 September 2012, according to a preview of her opening statement. In her testimony, Clinton is also expected to say that Benghazi was a tragedy that must be learned from, but that it should not stop America from continuing to send diplomats into dangerous places around the world, according to the summary provided by the campaign. To do so would be to learn the wrong lesson from the attack, she will say. | She will begin her testimony by reflecting on the four Americans who lost their lives in the attack on the US’s outpost in Benghazi on 11 September 2012, according to a preview of her opening statement. In her testimony, Clinton is also expected to say that Benghazi was a tragedy that must be learned from, but that it should not stop America from continuing to send diplomats into dangerous places around the world, according to the summary provided by the campaign. To do so would be to learn the wrong lesson from the attack, she will say. |
| The course of hearing, which is expected to last several hours, will depend on what questions are raised, and if the committee has any new information to present. | The course of hearing, which is expected to last several hours, will depend on what questions are raised, and if the committee has any new information to present. |
| But as Clinton told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I’ve already testified about Benghazi. I’ve testified to the best of my ability before the Senate and the House. I don’t know that I have very much to add. This is, after all, the eighth investigation.” | But as Clinton told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “I’ve already testified about Benghazi. I’ve testified to the best of my ability before the Senate and the House. I don’t know that I have very much to add. This is, after all, the eighth investigation.” |
| Updated at 2.16pm BST | Updated at 2.16pm BST |
| 1.46pm BST13:46 | 1.46pm BST13:46 |
| Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, during which four Americans, including an ambassador, were killed. | Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House committee investigating the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, during which four Americans, including an ambassador, were killed. |
| Although Congress has on seven occasions investigated the attacks, House Republicans have insisted on a special committee, led by conservative representative Trey Gowdy, meant to answer any remaining questions. But after revelations that Clinton, then secretary of state, used a private email server while in office, the committee has fixated on her email habits and archives in search of any misbehavior. | Although Congress has on seven occasions investigated the attacks, House Republicans have insisted on a special committee, led by conservative representative Trey Gowdy, meant to answer any remaining questions. But after revelations that Clinton, then secretary of state, used a private email server while in office, the committee has fixated on her email habits and archives in search of any misbehavior. |
| Democrats, including Clinton, have accused Republicans of using the committee to undermine the former secretary of state’s standing and weaken her presidential campaign. Gowdy has defended the committee’s meandering attention: “we’re going to follow the facts wherever they go.” | Democrats, including Clinton, have accused Republicans of using the committee to undermine the former secretary of state’s standing and weaken her presidential campaign. Gowdy has defended the committee’s meandering attention: “we’re going to follow the facts wherever they go.” |
| Republicans will likely interrogate Clinton about what warning she may have had and about the confusion in the aftermath of the attack, in particular the mixed messages of the Obama administration. They will also likely question her about security for ambassador Christopher Stevens, although Congress also played a role in weak security funding. | Republicans will likely interrogate Clinton about what warning she may have had and about the confusion in the aftermath of the attack, in particular the mixed messages of the Obama administration. They will also likely question her about security for ambassador Christopher Stevens, although Congress also played a role in weak security funding. |
| Clinton has testified before Congress on the attacks before, and her campaign hopes that she can use today’s hearing to quash persistent questions about her use of private email and role in the Benghazi response. Republicans hope to catch Clinton in a mistake over the course of several hours of questioning – and also to justify the existence of a highly criticized committee. She is due to begin testimony at 10am ET. | Clinton has testified before Congress on the attacks before, and her campaign hopes that she can use today’s hearing to quash persistent questions about her use of private email and role in the Benghazi response. Republicans hope to catch Clinton in a mistake over the course of several hours of questioning – and also to justify the existence of a highly criticized committee. She is due to begin testimony at 10am ET. |
| Updated at 2.13pm BST | Updated at 2.13pm BST |