New emails released by the State Department Monday show that Hillary Clinton and her top aides were dismissive of criticism after her appearance in a 2013 Senate Committee hearing regarding the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
While the then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shut down questions about the motivations of the attackers, who left four Americans dead in the Libyan City, her response received a lot of blow back from political pundits around the country,
The Hill reports.
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” Clinton told Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in the hearing. "Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?”
While political pundits ripped Hillary for shutting down the question, almost all of Clinton's aides gave her glowing reviews of her performance – everyone except Clinton's former top political strategist Mark Penn.
“I don't think the emotion in the hearing works to your advantage -- looks more like they rattled you on something no one outside the crazy right blamed you for anyway," Penn wrote to Clinton after the hearing.
“I think you either let it lie and say I think I've said everything that needs to be said on this or if asked why so emotional you might explain that you were just frustrated with the apparent high level of partisanship on this issue — we should be pulling together here and not losing our focus on the fight against terrorism which has always been a bipartisan issue and focusing on the big questions that confront us,” he added.
However, her other top aides, Philippe Reines and Jake Sullivan chimed in on the email chain strongly disagreeing with Penn's statements.
"I say this as someone who has never had a problem with Mark or held him as accountable as other people do - but... Give Me A Break," Reines wrote. “You did not look rattled. You looked real. There's a difference. A big one," Reines added.
“My problem with Mark's analysis is that it repeats the same flawed assumption that underpinned his advice in 2008,” said Sullivan, “namely, that being yourself is risky.”
“BINGO!!” Clinton responded.
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