Subject: 10.22.15 Friends & Allies Talking Points: Hillary Clinton Completes Her Testimony Before House Benghazi Committee
From: Adrienne Elrod <[email-masked]>
To: Adrienne Elrod <[email-masked]>
Cc: Alexandria Phillips <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 21:24:20 -0400
List-Id: <toptalkers.hillaryclinton.com>

*FRIENDS AND ALLIES TALKING POINTS*

*Hillary Clinton Completes Her Testimony Before House Benghazi Committee*

*October 22, 2015*

·         Today, Kevin McCarthy was proven right.

·         For weeks, House Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy tried to
deny that his committee was motivated at all by politics. But from Gowdy’s
opening statement, it was clear Republicans had only one goal with today’s
hearing: attacking Hillary Clinton.

·         They kept her in the witness chair for over 10 hours – the
longest testimony for a single witness in an investigation in over two
decades – in an attempt to “break” her. But they failed.

·         Instead, they only revealed how they had nothing new to show for
the $4.7 million they have spent over the 17 months of this investigation.
They failed to shed any new light whatsoever on the events of Benghazi
compared to what we already knew from the eight previous investigations
before this one.

·         Instead, one Republican after another questioned Clinton about
the same conspiracy theories that have already been debunked multiple times
already.

·         And in perhaps the most obvious show of what a partisan exercise
this was, Trey Gowdy spent the bulk of his questioning focusing on emails
Clinton received from Sid Blumenthal, who is not even a government employee
and had nothing to do with what happened in Benghazi. By one tally, Gowdy
said Blumenthal’s name 36 times compared to 24 mentions of Ambassador
Stevens as of early evening.

·         By contrast, Hillary Clinton had a clear sense of purpose in
appearing at this hearing. She wanted to honor the service of the four
Americans killed in the line of duty and to contribute in any way she could
to learning the lessons of Benghazi and better protecting American
diplomats.

·         At the hearing, she demonstrated her strength, knowledge and
commitment as Secretary of State. She showed an unsurpassed command of the
facts of what happened on the night of September 11, 2012. And she talked
in highly personal terms about the late Ambassador Stevens and his
colleagues, offering a gripping account of the heroism they showed that
night.

·         She further explained how America must continue to lead in a
dangerous world and preserve a diplomatic presence even in unstable places.
She said it would compound the tragedy of Benghazi if Ambassador Stevens’
death undermined the work to which he devoted his life.

·         And she urged Congress to step up and provide the resources and
reforms we need to better protect our diplomats. This is the task to which
we all must devote ourselves if we wish to truly honor the sacrifice of the
Americans lost at Benghazi.

·         After today, however, it is undeniable that what McCarthy
admitted last month is true: for Republicans, this investigation is only
about politics. And Trey Gowdy can no longer pretend otherwise.

-- 

Adrienne K. Elrod
Director of Strategic Communications & Amplification
Hillary For America
*www.hillaryclinton.com <http://www.hillaryclinton.com>*
@adrienneelrod

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