Hillary Clinton Hammers Republicans For Focus On Benghazi Transparency Complaints

“We had four dead Americans.

Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

WASHINGTON — Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday ripped into Republicans for accusing the Obama administration of misleading them in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, charging it was inappropriate given the deaths of American citizens.

Clinton became livid during an exchange with Sen. Ron Johnson in which the conservative Republican repeatedly accused the White House of misleading the administration.

At one point, Clinton raised her voice and angrily interrupted Johnson to denounce the GOP’s focus on what they were told by the administration rather than on the deaths of four Americans.

“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or because of guys out for a walk one night and decided to go kill some Americans? At this point what difference does it make senator?” Clinton said angrily.

Later in a less hostile exchange with Sen. Jeff Flake, Clinton said bluntly, “Senator, we didn’t have a clear picture … and if you wish to fault the administration it’s [because] we didn’t have a clear picture and didn’t do a good enough job of explaining we didn’t have a clear picture.”

Video available at: http://buzzfeed-video1.s3.amazonaws.com/video/2013/01/23/ClintonRonJohnson-320x240.mp4.