At Benghazi Oversight Hearing, Hillary Clinton Combative

Hillary Gets Heated at Benghazi Hearings (Daily Beast)

When a Tunisian court released the only suspect in the Benghazi, Libya, attacks to have been arrested, it was a blow to the U.S. investigation to find the killers of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. But the story didn’t end there. Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she has been assured that the suspect, Ali al-Harzi, is being monitored by the Tunisian government.

In one of the more explosive revelations of the day, Clinton also said the U.S. government was not able to present sensitive evidence on al-Harzi because it was an open court setting.

As The Daily Beast first reported, al-Harzi was a suspect in the attacks in part because he used social media during and after the attack to boast about the exploits of the 9/11-anniversary assault on the U.S. diplomatic compound. He was later picked up at the airport in Istanbul, where he was believed to be on his way to Syria. Al-Harzi’s brother is considered to be a midlevel planner for al Qaeda’s franchise in Iraq.

Al-Harzi’s release from jail by the court was not coordinated ahead of time with the U.S. government. But, Clinton said, “upon his release, I called the Tunisian prime minister. We have been assured that he is under the monitoring of the court.”

On the subject of the overall FBI investigation into Benghazi, Clinton said, “They are following some very promising leads and putting together cases. I think what they are trying to determine is how best to respond.”