Hillary Clinton Says She Wanted to 'Rise Above Partisanship' at Benghazi Hearing
Clinton made her first remarks since ending her marathon testimony.
WASHINGTON -- It had been only 12 hours since Hillary Clinton finished her day-long testimony before the House Benghazi Committee, but that didn't stop the presidential candidate from talking about her day on Capitol Hill at an early morning breakfast in Washington.
"It's been quite a week, hasn't it?" the Democratic front-runner said to cheers from the Democratic National Committee's Women's Leadership Forum crowd. "As some of you may know, I had a pretty long day yesterday."
She added: "I wanted to rise above partisanship and reach for statesmanship. I finally got to answer questions, something I've been pushing for, literally, a year. And I am just grateful I recovered my voice, which I lost a little bit." Clinton was referring to a moment late last night when she began coughing and had to pull out a cough drop.
This was her first public appearance since the marathon testimony, which ended at 9 p.m. Thursday. Clinton was grilled about the September 2012 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Clinton's campaign said Clinton had her best hour of fundraising immediately following the Benghazi hearing.
Clinton also praised Vice President Joe Biden at the DNC Forum, who decided this week not to enter the Democratic presidential race.
"I want to say a word about another great Democrat who has always been a champion for women and families and all of us: Vice President Joe Biden,” Clinton said. "I am confident that history isn’t finished with Joe Biden. As he said the other day, there is more work to do and if I know Joe he’ll be right there with us on the front lines.”
But one of her loudest applause lines came when Clinton mentioned that some people said she needs to "stop shouting" about gun violence, which has become a hot issue on the campaign trail.
"I am not shouting," she said. "It is just when women talk, some people think we are shouting."