Top moments from Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi hearing

Tensions boiled over with Hillary Clinton in the hot seat.

Republicans and Democrats didn’t even try to hide their distrust of one another throughout Thursday’s 11-hour Congressional hearing over Clinton’s handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Here are eight of the top moments from the lengthy hearing, which uncovered little about the terrorist assault that has become a deeply polarizing political issue.

8. Clinton says emails were not central to her job.

Clinton told Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) that most of the work she did on behalf of the United States was conducted in meetings rather than on email. Clinton has been under fire for using a personal email account hosted on a private server, rather than her official government address.

“If you were to be in my office in the State Department, I didn’t have a computer,” she said. “I did not do the vast majority of the work on my email.”

7. Adam Schiff invokes Bernie Sanders and Larry David.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) brought up Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and his comedic doppelgänger Larry David in explaining that he feels the focus on Clinton’s emails is a distraction from the real issues.

“As for your emails, I feel like channeling Bernie Sanders here tonight, but I’m no Larry David, and I know I wouldn’t do it right,” Schiff said.

Sanders had said that the American people are “sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails” during the first Democratic presidential debate, and David later repeated the line on “Saturday Night Live.”

6. Clinton admits personal email was a mistake.

Jordan asked how they could accept that Clinton has turned over all of her emails relating to Libya when her story “keeps changing,” to which she replied, “I have said repeatedly that I take responsibility for my use of personal email. I’ve said it was a mistake. I’ve said that it was allowed, but it was not a good choice.”

Hillary Clinton waves after testifying to the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Oct. 22. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

5. Trey Gowdy takes swipes at Democrats.

Committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) suggested that Adam Smith (D-Wash.) was not quite paying attention during opening statements and implied that the investigation by Smith’s committee suffered serious blind spots.

“I’ll be happy to get a copy of my opening statement for the gentleman from Washington so he can refresh his recollection on all the things our committee found that your previous committee missed.”

4. Smith says the purpose of the committee is to “prosecute” Clinton.

“And, you know, when you look at the emails they request, when you look at the questioning, the purpose of this committee is to prosecute you,” Smith said. “And there will be time enough for that in the next year, you know, and people will do it.”

3. Clinton says she “lost sleep” over Benghazi.

“I would imagine I’ve thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I’ve lost more sleep than all of you put together,” Clinton told the Benghazi committee.

2. Clinton’s conversation with Egyptian prime minister is cited.

A U.S. Department of State document, reproduced by the Select Committee on Benghazi, shows that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew the attack “had nothing to do with the film.” (U.S. Department of State)

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) brought up that within 24 hours of the attack, Clinton had a conversation with then-Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil in which she said, “We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack — not a protest.”

The film was a YouTube video mocking Muslims that had set off protests in several Arab countries. Jordan asked Clinton why she told the American people that the Benghazi attack was in response to the video but told a different version to Kandil. Republican critics have implied that Clinton was downplaying terrorism in Libya, because it reflected badly on the decision to help oust Moammar Gadhafi:

“State Department experts knew the truth. You knew the truth. But that’s not what the American people got. And again, the American people want to know why. Why didn’t you tell the American people exactly what you told the Egyptian prime minister?”

Clinton said she referred to the video in a “in a very specific way” — using her words “deliberately.”

“I said, some have sought to justify the attack because of the video,” she said.

1. Elijah Cummings defends Clinton.

Hillary Clinton hugs Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) as Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), right, stands nearby. (Photo: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) passionately defended Clinton and lamented that the Benghazi committee was using taxpayer dollars to, in his view, undermine her aspirations for the White House.

“So I don’t know what we want from you. Do we want to badger you over and over again until you get tired, until we do get the gotcha moment [Schiff is] talking about?” he said during a heated moment. “We’re better than that. We are so much better. We are a better country, and we are better than using taxpayer dollars to try to destroy a campaign. That’s not what America is all about. So you can comment if you like … I just had to get that off my chest.”

Clinton thanked Cummings and said she deplored using a tragedy like Benghazi to further partisan political purposes.

“I’m hoping that we can move forward together,” she said, “we can start working together — we can start listening to each other.”