Hillary Clinton's testimony before Congress so far has been largely as expected — a reptition of all the tired punchlines we've heard before. As the first session came to a close, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer summed it up best, "Not a lot of questions were answered, I guess you could say."
Clinton's supposed 'grilling' before Congress is at best the last tepid twitching of a long dead controversy.
It's a shame, four people died in the line of duty — the situation is surely just as alive in the hearts of their family members. Yet the fact remains, Clinton's testimony will be largely anti-climactic, a nearly empty practice of democracy.
First of all, the Republican fever over Benghazi has broken. Their frothing fervor tapered off following the election, in what many analysts believe is because the political currency lost its value. The Republican opposition seems more focused on giving Hagel a hard time (though even that will be anti-climactic, in the end).
Also, Clinton is on her way out. Her grilling doesn't really do Republicans any good. Plus she's one of the more powerful politicians in America today — to expect a bombshell announcement, or new information, leading to her impending prosecution for dereliction of duty, is a narrative better left to the obscure corners of the internet where tinfoil tricorner hats prevail.
Finally, even Republican leadership has balked at the idea of giving up classified information concerning covert operations in Libya. All the unclassified information has already been released, discussed, spun and reiterated over the last six months.
The most we can expect is a few statements about security requests, funding, personnel and follow-on actions regarding prevention. Possibly when the Republican dominated House gets a chance at her this afternoon, testimony will be a bit more fiery, but nonetheless we should expect more of the same: this 'grilling' will be rather routine.
See our full coverage of Clinton's grilling here >
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