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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Clinton Testifies Before the Committee; Reaction from Sister of Benghazi Victim; Keeping Cool in Marathon Grilling. Aired 9-10p ET.
Aired October 22, 2015 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And there you have it. Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight.
You see it wrapping up. Former secretary of State Hillary Clinton is long awaited, highly anticipated politically charge testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi.
The proceedings began at 10:00 A.M. this morning. They ended with fireworks between Secretary Clinton and Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy.
Republican lawmakers all day on the attack but also on the defensive at times after two members of their own party including the majority leader suggested the partisan politically motive for the hearings.
Democratic members making a plan that they certainly see this as a political exercise aimed a damaging their leading presidential candidate.
Tempers on the panel growing hotter as tonight when on things turning more contentious as you may have seen toward the end right there.
Now I want to go first to our non-partisan team, CNN Political Analyst David Gergen, Gloria Borger and Carl Bernstein is also best selling biographer of Secretary Clinton, also Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Carl, you covered a lot of Hillary Clinton and you've seen a lot of hearings over the years. What do you make of this?
CARL BERNSTEIN, AUTHOR, "A WOMAN IN CHANGE: THE LIFE OF HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: I thought we got a great look at who President Hillary Clinton would be for the first time, we're kind of competence and kind of command over the whole scene that she was being asked to testify under.
She knew the issues. There was nuance about her positions. It was very impressive given what she was up against and the other thing is I think you have to go back to Joe McCarthy, to the house on American committee to find a process as abusive in a congressional hearing as this one was.
COOPER: You think you go back to McCarthy here.
BERNSTEIN: Yeah I do. I think this was a reckless and outrageous hearing and the process is. That said, she has a problem with stonewalling on the question of these e-mails and her server. The FBI is looking at it and that's probably the appropriate place. But I think we got a real look at who Hillary Clinton would be as president.
How she -- her comportment, her composure, the new ones in terms of policy, her familiarity with the issues down in the weeds. The fact she had been on the senate arms services committee and what she knows about the world and policy. I thought we got a look at somebody we never saw before.
COOPER: Gloria, was there a smoking gun today? I mean the idea that Sidney Blumenthal has special access to the Clinton's not exactly headline that can be earned 20 years ago?
GLORIA BORGER, CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I would wager that most of the American public has no idea of the Sidney Blumenthal who that was until today. He's an old friend of the Clintons who e-mailed her about, you know, all kinds of foreign policy things including Libya.
And, you know, she forwarded some of his e-mails and their point was, the Republican point was look, he e-mailed you more than Chris Stevens.
COOPER: He had a more direct line to you than Chris Stevens.
BORGER: Exactly. He knew your personal e-mail.
Chris Stevens didn't know your personal e-mail and it was part of their larger, you know, their larger narrative here which was A, you own Libya policy which was bad and they could make that case.
But then they started going down this path of you were there elected in 2012, you didn't pay enough attention to security, which she answered. You were uncaring after event. You were concerned more about your P.R. and that nobody wanted to admit this was a terror attack because it didn't fit into the Obama legacy narrative.
These were all political points. We didn't learn anything new, Anderson, except I think for Hillary Clinton's own moving narrative of what occurred that night at her end, and how frantic they were and as she described it as the fog of war and they didn't know who was dead and who was alive and she was moved and I think anybody watching that would be moved because you sort of felt like it was something that was spiraling out of control, that they were trying to get a handle on and I think that's the first time we've ever really heard that.
COOPER: And as we continue to see there Former Secretary Clinton talking with members on her way out, also with her attorneys, David.
First, anyone to say this committee isn't divided along partisan lines. I mean Republicans, you know, clearly going after Hillary Clinton being as tough as they could Democrats, you know, being as gentle really as they could here.
What did you -- did anything for you new come out of this?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: No, not in terms of information.
I will tell you, Anderson, I'm sure there are conservatives in the country who will be chaired by this hearings. They will think that she's basically gotten a free pass and allowed Benghazi and good for republicans to press in.
[21:05:05] But I think a great number of other Americans -- and I'm in this group -- will find that these hearings were very, very disturbing. I cannot remember a secretary of state -- to go back to Carl's point -- I can't remember a secretary of state in modern times who is ever grilled and badgered the way she was tonight for 11 hours she's been up there in these hearings and it was just an unprecedented kind of grilling. I hope we never see one like this again.
COOPER: And you think it was unfair?
GERGEN: I'm not sure unfairness. I just thought there was sort of a brutal quality about it and bothering quality as if, you know, and to take everything and she said in the worst possible light to try to accuse her of not caring, the fact that she went home somehow the night of the Benghazi attack...
COOPER: David, let me just hold that thought because I know Dana has one of the committee members, Congressman Schiff, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks Anderson and congressman, you sort of made the joke which luckily turned into a joke about being here still for the 3:00 A.M. phone call she was going to get.
But it was a long hearing. There was a lot discussed. I know that your role was to talk a lot about how it was political since you are on the democratic side. But there were a few things that came up and came through with the hours and hours of hearing. Did you learn anything new?
ADAM SCHIFF, (D) SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI: I mean, this is the thing. We really didn't learn anything that the other investigations hadn't covered for all the talk about the 50 witnesses we interviewed and all the e-mails that we saw, it was really nothing that my colleagues would point to that was new or shed different light on the events that happened or altered any conclusions of these other reports, so I have to say I don't think we've shown much of any progress and for all the time and money put into it, that's very disappointing.
BASH: Now, one of your colleagues on the Republican side, Congresswoman Brooks was questioning the secretary about her communication with Chris Stevens, the ambassador who died in this horrible tragedy and it was a bit surprising that she didn't seem to remember any communication with him. It had to have surprised you.
SCHIFF: Well, you know, I don't think they had e-mail communication. I don't know...
DANA: But not just e-mail, it was any communication. SCHIFF: Yeah. I don't know. And I don't want to speak for the secretary in terms of I don't recall ever since whether she had talked with him or not talked with him but she did make it very clear in terms of the issue that we're concerned about here, that he never did communicate directly with her on security and he knew a way to reach her.
But I think it's quite apparent that the ambassador felt that that was not the appropriate level to make the decisions about security, that the office of the diplomatic security was the right venue for that. I think that's who he interacted with and I think it's quite telling that's exactly who he thought he ought to reach out to on that issue.
BASH: And the fact there were so many requests for security.
I mean, maybe she's not responsible for security, maybe she is. But the fact that there were so many requests that went on unanswered. Ask somebody who is a member of this oversight committee, the select committee that has to bother you.
SCHIFF: Well, it absolutely bothers me. But again, that's something the accountability review board looked into extensively. They were deeply critical of the state department, deeply critical of how the security office handled that requests or those requests should have been met and weren't.
So I certainly agree, it is concerning a great deal but that's not new ground. We've known that for years now. We've known that those mistakes were made and they were serious mistakes.
BASH: OK. Thank you very much, congressman, appreciate it. Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right Dana, thank you very much.
I want to join back with our panel, Carl Bernstein, Gloria Borger, David Gergen, Jeff Toobin as well.
David, you were talking about -- I think with your term badgering the aggressive questioning of the secretary. I want to play one exchange and have you talk about it and also, Jeff, as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM JORDAN, (R) SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI: Can you answer today what were the search terms?
CLINTON: The search terms were everything you could imagine that might be related to anything but they also went through every single e-mail.
JORDAN: But that's not answering the question. What was the search terms means terms, what terms did you use...
CLINTON: I did not...
JORDAN: What date parameters, what date did you start, what was the end date and e-mails in between there we'll look at?
CLINTON: Well, congressman, I asked my attorneys to oversee the process. I did not look over their shoulder. I did not dictate how they would do it. I did not ask what they were doing and how they maybe...
JORDAN: But you don't know? You don't know what terms they used to determine which ones for your e-mail, which one the state department gotten there for we might get?
CLINTON: You know, the state department had between 90 and 95 percent of all the ones that were work related. They were already on the system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:10:01]
COOPER: And Chairman Trey Gowdy is speaking. Let's listen in.
GOWDY: (Inaudible) of I don't draw conclusions until the end and there are more witnesses to talk to. So, from my standpoint, we keep going on until we're able to interview all the witnesses that we think have access to relevant information importantly access the documents. I did told you in my opening count how many times you hear my colleagues to the left ask the executive branch to produce documents. I counted zero.
So the six of us, seven of us would be much closer to writing that final report. If we could get just a little bit of help in gaining access to the document. So with that...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Gowdy, what did you find the most relevant piece of information?
GOWDY: You know, everybody is going to have their own perspective on that. I have a very different interpretation of the phrase personal review than the ARB did. I think personal review means exactly what it says, personal review.
We had a lot of Q&A this morning about specific security instances and specific requests and her response was I have people in processes in place for that. That's fine. That's a fair answer.
But you also need to be prepared to answer why you have people and processes in place for security. But people and processes were not in place for milk, diesel fuel, gasoline, fish or the drivel of Sidney Blumenthal.
UNIFDENTIFIED FEMALE: What new things did you learn today?
GOWDY: I think some of Jimmy Jordan's questionings.
Well, when you say knew today, we knew some of that already. We knew about the e-mails. In terms of her testimony?
GOWDY: I don't know that she testified that much differently today than the previous time, she testified, so...
COOPER: Trey Gowdy making comments about what he heard tonight. We'll going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll going to try and do the impossible, bring you the most important moments, the best moments or the worst moments depending on your perspective perhaps boiled down to just a few minutes.
Also ahead, more from the panel and thoughts of a victim's sister. One of the Bengha -- one of the men killed in Benghazi and what she heard and today's testimony as our special 360 coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:15:06]
COOPER: We've been watching history unfold all day on Capitol Hill hour after hour of testimony, roughly nine hours in all by Hillary Clinton, the states going in could not have been higher.
The political heat surrounding the hearings could not be higher either and in case you didn't have nine free hours today. Here are some of the most important moments from this big day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOWDY: We are going to write that final definitive accounting of what happened at Benghazi. We would like to do it with your help and the help of our Democrat colleagues but make no mistake, we are going to do it nonetheless.
ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D) SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI: Last weekend the chairman told republican colleagues to shut up and stop talking about the select committee.
What I want to know is this, and this is a key question, why tell the Republicans to shut up when they are telling the truth?
CLINTON: I'm here. Despite all the previous investigations and all the talk about partisan agendas, I'm here to honor those we lost and to do what I can to aid those who serve us still.
MIKE POMPEO, (R) SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI: I get asked constantly, why has no one been held accountable? How come not a single person lost a single paycheck connected to the fact we had the first ambassador killed since 1979? How come no one has been held accountable to date?
CLINTON: The personnel rules and the laws that govern those decisions were followed very carefully.
POMPEO: Yes, ma'am, I'm not asking what the ARB did, I'm asking what you did.
CLINTON: I followed the law congressman...
POMPEO: Wait a second... CLINTON: ... that is my -- that was my responsibility.
JORDAN: Libya was supposed to be, Mr. Roston (ph) pointed out this great success story for the Obama White House and the Clinton state department. And now you have a terrorist attack. And the terrorist attack in Libya and it's just 56 days before an election.
You can live with the protest about a video, that won't hurt you but a terrorist attack will so you can't be square with the American people.
CLINTON: I thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I've lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been racking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done.
GOWDY: Madam Secretary, he had unfettered access to you. And he used that access at least on one occasion to ask you to intervene on behalf of a business venture. Do you recall that?
CLINTON: You know, Mr. Chairman, if you don't have any friends who say unkind things privately, I congratulate you but from my perspective...
GOWDY: I'd like to think I'd correct them.
CUMMINGS: I move that we put into the record the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal. We don't have -- we released the e-mail, let's do the transcript, that's way so the world can see it.
GOWDY: Why is that you only Mr. Blumenthal's transcript release? Why don't you...
CUMMINGS: I'd like to have all of them released.
GOWDY: The survivors even their names, you want that released?
CUMMINGS: Let me tell you something. Right now...
GOWDY: The only one...
CUMMING: I've asked the...
GOWDY: ... of Sidney Blumenthal. That's the only one you've asked for that and Ms. Mills.
CUMMING: That is not true.
GOWDY: That's 254.
CLINTON: I want to asked whatever.
GOWDY: If you want to ask for some fact witnesses...
(CROSSTALK)
CUMMING: You said from the beginning we want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Why don't we put the entire transcript out there and let the world see it? Why do you have to hide?
POMPEO: No one recommended closing but you had two ambassadors that made several, several requests and here is basically what happened to their requests. They were torn up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Even with several breaks, it was a test of endurance for everybody.
Let's bring in our CNN Political Commentators Donna Brazile, a Democratic Strategist, Vice Chair of the DNC voter project Amanda Carpenter is Ted Cruz's Former Communication's director, contributing editor at the Conservative Review and Paul Begala is Democratic Strategies and Co-Chair of the Pro-Hillary Clinton Super PAC.
Amanda, let's start with you. Did anything new come out of today? What did you think of it?
AMANDA CARPENTER, FORMER COMMICATION DIRECTOR FOR SEN. TED CRUZ: After watching the long hearing, I think there is three big take aways for Republicans. The first is that I don't think anyone has a clear idea what Hillary Clinton's policy was in Libya and why it was so important that we did have an ambassador there in a dangerous situation.
The second thing is that although Hillary Clinton does take responsibility for the security situation there, it's really unclear what she did or did not do when it comes to the security request other than say she didn't receive them. There is a mismatch of information there
And lastly, there's still questions about the changing narrative. There is two pieces of information that came to light in the committee today. The first is that she sent an e-mail to her daughter saying clearly within hours to the attack it was an Al Qaeda-like attack and also called the Libyan prime minister and said this had nothing to do with the film. There is a mismatch between what she was saying in private and what she is saying in public.
Those are three things I think are going to have long lasting impact as we go forward and get the final report from this committee.
COOPER: Paul, to Amanda's points, are those significant for you?
[21:20:00]
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, no, what's frankly -- we need to have a debate about foreign policy. That's not what this was. This was an attempt to just to harass Hillary to hurt her politically. We went into this hearing this morning with the new CNN poll saying that 72 percent of Americans think that this is partisan at 75 percent of independents. Does anybody believe that a fair-minded independent set aside democrats like me, republicans like Amanda, that any fair-minded into kind of looked to this and said gee that's really a legitimate in fair inquiry? I don't thing so, not at all.
COOPER: And do you think Hillary Clinton comes out to this stronger?
BEGALA: Absolutely and it's not -- at first I thought it was just because the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy admitted that this was a political thing and then this staff guy who said this but no, this and in fact, let me speak to my friend Hillary a second and talk to her in person. Hillary, go home, having a nice vodka martini, have a good night sleep. Here's the good news, you don't have to appear on Capitol Hill again Hillary until January 20th, 2017 when you're going to be sworn in as president.
COOPER: Amanda, just to Paul's point before I go to Donna because Donna is also a Democrat. Amanda, do you think Hillary Clinton comes out of this stronger in any way?
CARPENTER: Well, I'm not -- she performed well under the conditions. This was a long hearing. I mean, Donald Trump should never complain about a three-hour debate ever again. But...
COOPER: I actually had that thought as well and I was like, why did they can't believe that three-hour debate. This was nine to 11 hours.
CARPENTER: Let just look at implications for the 2016 election which will be a referendum on the Obama, Clinton foreign policy. Hillary Clinton doubled down on the fact that she is willing to send diplomats into very dangerous places without any clear explanation of what we're trying to accomplish. I have a lot of questions about that policy and that something that will certainly play out for someone campaigning to be commander in chief as we go forward.
COOPER: Donna, how do you see what happened today?
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, to the grieving families and their friends, I am sure that they are watching this, you know, charade today thinking what about my children and what about my husband, what about my father, what about spouse? And let me just say this, for that reason I think Secretary Clinton showed up because she wants everyone to understand what happened.
Her description of the events leading up to it that night and what happened afterwards I think will hold well in the coming days and months. And so the families know that there was an attempt to try to get help and I think that's important.
I thought personally, she was stoic. She was steely. She was stately. Clearly more sophisticated than some of the people, you know, questioning her but overall, I think she came to that committee to try to answer those questions to ensure the American people that we have in place now more protection, more assets for those who are serving our country and to the extent it was a political charade. Let the Republican have a narrative and we know that narrative is. We hear it every day. Paul and I have talked about it and yes, we talked about it because we're Democrats and because we do care about our fellow citizens who are serving but that narrative didn't fit today and I think they're need to basically do some transparency work on their own release Sidney Blumenthal e-mails, I want to read them. I've read all hers. I want to read his.
And, you know, Anderson, at the end of the day it has to be about those four Americans. Let's continue to do what is best for them and their families and the politics, well, you know what, Amanda, she can hold her own.
What I saw today was a stately steely stoic sophisticated individual who is well prepared to be the next president of the United States after she wins the primary because I'm neutral.
COOPER: OK. Paul, I mean, Sidney Blumenthal, very much an unseen inspector in today's hearing. A lot of people were maybe heard about him for the first time obviously a long-time friend of the Clintons. I don't know if he's a friend of yours or not.
David Axelrod twitted about it saying quote, "Ironic that career kibitzer and conspiratorialist Sidney Blumenthal should be elevated to epic heights in GOP Benghazi conspiracy theory. Were you surprised how much the republicans brought up her friendship with Blumenthal?
BEGALA: Yes, he is a former colleague of mine and a friend of mine and it is astonishing to me that somehow they think that somehow Sidney Blumenthal a former high ranking White House official who I served within a long-time journalist is written some terrific books and by the way he asked me to plug his book. He's got a new book coming out about Abraham Lincoln, so Sid there's your book.
It's amazing to me and what they should is what Donna suggest, release the transcript of his interviews. I can't recall a series of a congressional hearings that have been conducted this secretively.
Now, some of it has to be classified. I respect that and they should read that and be careful. I do respect that because we're talking about national security but fundamentally, all of this should have been in an open Iran contract very rarely held private sessions and they did their light -- their work in the light of day and I think everybody cares that transparency ought to call in this community to release -- certainly, Sid Blumenthal was not a government official release his transcript in any other transcripts they can without endangering national secrets.
[21:25:03]
COOPER: I can, I mean, I still at the end of day of watching this one, I still don't know where Sidney Blumenthal's e-mails is just the annoying e-mails send by somebody in your circle like, you know, people who send around joke e-mails or -- and in this case they were very, very serious but were they kind of unwelcome, you know, or just tolerated e-mails or was he playing some sort of a role? My sense was he didn't have any official role. What do you make of it?
CARPENTER: Well, you know, apparently, Hillary Clinton did find them important enough to forward on for other people to review and the point that the republicans are trying to make this is that Sidney Blumenthal whatever kind of character he may be was able to get inside the Clinton's circle...
COOPER: Right, more that Chris Stevens.
CARPENTER: ... when other people with legitimate security request were put through a bureaucratic process and did not have direct access to her, that's a legitimate point. Did they maybe spend too much time on it? I could concede that but it's the legitimate point and gets to the idea that Clinton relies on a close inner circle, loyalist people who only talk to her and, you know, other people and she's within the department she wasn't willing to listen to and that's damaging.
BRAZILE: We don't know that. We don't know that. The over 200 diplomats, we heard that today and many of them had access but the truth is, I think Sidney Blumenthal, I don't him as well as Paul because I can't -- I don't have a book either but he is somebody that she talks to.
Look, she's capable of having friends. She's capable of hearing from outside people and I know Anderson, I have to tell you this, I'm quite annoying to. I like to send e-mails to people who don't really want my advice but I give him mind to so...
COOPER: I would happily get an e-mail from you any day, Donna Brazile.
BRAZILE: Well, Anderson, you know, I've already stated that you're my boo and I don't want to mess up anything...
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: Wait, I thought I was Donna.
CARPENTER: But on a more serious point...
COOPER: Go ahead Amanda.
CARPENTER: ... it does get to the idea that she was accepting this kind of e-mails and what I said before the second key take away is, does she accepts the responsibility for the security situation but at the same time she doesn't seem because he want to be in charge of making those security decisions. So that is the mismatch, either she was in charge or she wasn't. She had a direct role with Libya in making the decision to send diplomats there and make them safe or not.
COOPER: All right, OK.
CARPENTER: She can't have it both ways.
COOPER: Amanda... BRAZILE: We got to hear from General Petraeus. Mr. Pineda we need to hear from more individuals. It maybe the committee can finally get to the bottom of all of their transcripts and work because we still have answers but they don't want to talk to everybody I just want to get to Hillary and that's what today looked like.
CARPENTER: I think they will interview David Petraeus at some point.
BRAZILE: Well, good.
COOPER: Amanda thank you, as well Paul Begala as well. Up next -- and Donna mentioned this a moment ago, reaction from someone for whom these hearings are deeply personal. The sister of Glen Doherty, a CIA contractor killed in Benghazi. Hear reaction today's hearing when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:31:23]
COOPER: Before the politics of that have surrounded Benghazi tragedy on this since day one, the fact is the killings and all that followed have been deeply personal. Four people lost their lives, four families in the larger state departments and security community still feel their absence. Secretary Clinton made that clear in her opening statements.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: The terrorist attacks at our diplomatic compound and later at the CIA post in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th, 2012, took the lives of four brave Americans, Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.
I'm here to honor the service of those four men. The courage of the diplomatic security agency and the CIA officers who risked their lives that night and the work their colleagues do every single day all over the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: OK, Kate Quigley is Glen Doherty's sister. She joins us with her impressions of the hearing.
Kate, I know you watched Secretary Clinton's testimony. What did you think? Did -- for you did he put any lingering questions that you and your family have to rest?
KATE QUIGLEY, SISTER OF BENGHAZI ATTACK VICTIM: Overall, you know, I thought she did a fairly good job answering some of the questions. You know, as expected, a lot of the real answers that we're looking for were kind of brushed off or not answered in the detail that we would like but in general, it was what I expected it to be.
COOPER: When the attack first happened, I mean, it was initially linked by the administration to protest happening elsewhere over an Anti-Muslim movie. Secretary Clinton was pressed on what she knew when in the hearing and I just want to play a little that for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN: At 10:08 on the night of the attack you released this statement, "Some have sought to justify the vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet." Here is what you said. At 11:00 that night, approximately one hour after you told the American people it was a video you said to your family, "Two officers were killed today in Benghazi by an Al-Qaeda-like group."
The next day within 24 hours you had a conversation with the Egyptian prime minister, you told him this. "We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You obviously met with Secretary Clinton a few days after the attack. What did she tell you then about your brother's death?
QUIGLEY: I did. I met her when we were at Andrews Air Force Base and, you know, she spoke to my family about how sad we should feel for the Libyan people because they are uneducated and that breeds fear which breeds violence and leads to the protest.
And, you know, I remember thinking at the time how, you know, how selfish of me. I've never really thought about the Libyan people. I've been so consumed with my own grief and loss and concern and, you know, when I think back now to that day and what she knew, you know, it shows me a lot about her character that she would choose in that moment to basically perpetuate what she knew was untrue.
COOPER: It seems an odd thing to even bring up in that moment, which is a moment of obviously of extreme grief for you and your family. I mean, it seems like something she didn't even necessarily need to go down that road.
[21:35:03]
QUIGLEY: Yeah, it was very strange and, you know, I thought about it and I never spoke about it for a long time, but, you know, eight days later was Glen's funeral and as funeral the priest mentioned in his eulogy how sad he was that religion was involved in his death, you know.
So this is eight days after the attack that that story is still out there and, you know, I would say that's a big difference, you know. We don't -- you don't get a second eulogy so that makes a big difference to me.
COOPER: You obviously are very proud of your brother Glen, loved him deeply. What do you want people to know about him?
QUIGLEY: Glen mostly, you know, he would do anything for his friends. He kept in touch with people from all walks off life, which I'm in awe of and ultimately I believe that's what led him onto the roof early in the morning of September 12th. You know, his love for his brothers and, you know, he would just lay down his life for his friends and unfortunately, he did.
COOPER: And I know in the wake of his killing you've become an advocate for families like yours who lost a loved one working as a contractor for the United States. What are you hoping to change for contractors?
QUIGLEY: Contractors are required to purchase an insurance policy before they go overseas and there is an out of date law in the books which holds an exception for specific contractors so they are in essence buying a false bill of goods and the CIA has agreed to retroactively change this policy, which is an amazing thing and it will help so many families.
In order to fund the new policy, four committees within the senate and house need to approve it. Three of those committees have. We are waiting on the senate intelligence committee...
COOPER: That's the final one?
QUIGLEY: ... and look forward to speaking to them. That's the final one and, you know, it's just the right thing to do.
COOPER: Well, Kate, we'll continue to follow that, as well. Thank you so much, Kate. I really appreciate it.
QUIGLEY: Thank you so much.
COOPER: Well, just ahead tonight, one of Secretary Clinton's toughest questioners, you saw in a moment ago, Congressman Jim Jordan when our special "360" coverage continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:40:53]
COOPER: Listeners surprised of the number of continuous question in the Benghazi hearing today came from the seven Republicans on the House Select Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio used some allotted time to grill Hillary Clinton about whether the State Department intentionally misled the public by suggesting early on the protest of an anti-Islam video played a role in the attack.
I want to go back to Dana Bash who is with the congressman right now.
BASH: Thank you so much Anderson and congressman Jordan. Thank you for joining me. I want to start with something that your chairman said right here just a few minutes ago. Trey Gowdy, the question was did you all learn anything new and the answer was I don't know that she testified that much differently today than the previous times she testified.
JORDAN: So, yeah, she gave a lot of the same answers but the American people learned something new. BASH: Which is what?
JORDAN: That she told Egyptian prime minister that it wasn't a film, that it wasn't a protest, that it was plan attack. I mean, he told the Egyptian prime minister one thing. He told the American people, oh, no, no, this is a video inspired protest. So, one thing public, one thing private, she told her family it was a terrorist attack. He told the Egyptian prime minister it was a terrorist attack.
BASH: And tell me why this matters when you're trying to get to the bottom of what happened that night. Why tell me, explain why that matters so much.
JORDAN: Well, it matters in a much more fundamental sense than that. American people expect their government to give it to them square. They expect the truth from their government. They can -- we can handle the truth. And this -- So they expect government officials to give it to them straight. And she obviously didn't do that. She gave it straight to people in private like her family. She gave it straight to the Egyptian prime minister and to the president of Libya but not to the American people.
BASH: Now, you've been in this hearing all day, so I'm not sure you've been able to get briefed on the buzz, generated out of this but even some Republicans are saying this actually ended up being political but not in the Republican's favor but in that it made her look good, her look capable, her look presidential.
JORDAN: Yeah, I leave that to other people, you know?
BASH: Does that concern you? You are Republican.
JORDAN: Well, what concerns me is getting to know the truth. What concerns me is accomplishing the goal of the committee. And I don't think my questions were partisans, my questions were taking her statement to say these are completely off, these contradict each other. So that was my question.
I also ask her about this. I said look, if you're the most transparent person in history as you claim, then why won't you allow a neutral third party like a retired federal judge to examine these 60,000 some e-mails that you and your legal teams said 30,000 are public right to --going to the tax fare, 30,000 are private you're not going to get to see.
When you let a federal judge, the FBI got to serve for goodness sake They may find something on there and if they do let a federal judge say does some of that belong to our committee, it relevant to our committee getting to the truth about what happen that night?
BASH: So, getting to the truth. What is next for your committee? Are you about to wrap things up or at least sometime soon?
JORDAN: Well, we got several more people to interview?
BASH: Who is that? Who is that going to be? JORDAN: Well, you have to talk to the chairman but there's a plan to
do that. We've already interviewed 50 people. We got 5,000 Chris Stevens e-mails today. The ambassador -- and all the committee seeing his e-mails, we get 5,000 pages here in the last week. We got to look at that, so it would be nice.
And it's frustrating and we have to keep saying this but it's frustrating. It would be nice if the Democrats will help us, if administration would help us instead of dragging their feet, taking this -- get us the information. Help us get to the truth so we can write the report and give the American people some truth and closures to this. And particularly the families of the four individuals that gave their lives.
BASH: Congressman Jordan, thank you very much for you time. I appreciate it, Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: All right, Dana, thanks. I want to bring back our non- partisan panel David Gergen, Gloria Borger, Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Toobin, and also joining us
CNN foreign affairs correspondent, Elise Labott, Elise, you covered the Clinton state department for years, cover it when the Benghazi tragedy occur. What do you make of what you heard from Congressman Jordan and watch today?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is a lot, Anderson, about this video obviously and protest. And I want to go back to the statement that secretary Clinton made the day after the Benghazi attacks. She said "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior" referring to the Benghazi attack that she condemns as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet. She doesn't say it was born out of a protest. She just says that, "Some have sought -- it's a very carefully worded statement.
[21:45:00] And she talked throughout the hearing of, you know, the fog of war and information coming in. She was also sending a message, I think, as she said throughout the day to countries around the world, particularly the Middle East. If you remember the coverage back to that day in addition to reeling from the attack on the Benghazi facility, the U.S. was also fending off violent protests in Cairo, in Yemen, in Tunisia, some of which damaged some of the embassies.
So what the secretary was saying, if you were justifying your attacks, as a result of this video, she is sending a message to not only the people around the world but countries that the U.S. needed their help. So there is a lot of focus on that video, a lot of focus on the fact that Clinton said to her family, she said, sent an e-mail to Chelsea Clinton, I believe, saying that it was a terrorist attack, talk to the...
COOPER: She said it was an Al Qaeda like group?
LABOTT: Al Qaeda like group. Remember that there was a claim on Facebook by a member of Anwar Al Sharif which was an Al Qaeda linked group who claimed the attack the very next day they retracted that attack, Anderson. COOPER: All right. Jeff, I mean, legally speaking we haven't heard from you, is there anything new to this? Is there anything to this or in your opinion, is this politics?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This is politics. And I'm really glad Dana had a chance to talk to Representative Jordan because I think he was clearly the worst, the most unprofessional, the most misleading, the most really demeaning to the Congress in terms of his questioning, you know, really actively misleading about the evidence that was present.
And I thought, you know, the questioning at first was actually about something important. It was about the policy in Libya. It was about whether the protection was adequate? But towards the end when Representative Jordan really went after Hillary Clinton, it turned into this really repulsive spectacle that I think will really show very poorly for the Congress. And I don't know if it's going to help Hillary Clinton or not? But the idea of congressional investigations which has a pretty noble history in the United States has really been demeaned by the second half of the testimony today.
COOPER: I want you-all to stick around. We'll going to hear more from you ahead. We got to take a short break. We said Hillary Clinton obviously was not expecting an easy time today. This wasn't her first, you know, time in front of a committee like this. We'll look closer how she stood up to it, as you saw just from her arriving home a moment ago.
(COMMERCIA BREAK)
[21:51:15]
COOPER: Hillary Clinton back home tonight in Washington after one of the longest days of her political and public service life, whatever you think of her answers, plenty of people were focused on the demeanor, how she appeared even on her facial expressions or composure, here is a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIJAH CUMMINGS: So he setup the Select Committee with no rules...
SCHMICK: Go ahead and read the note if you need to?
CLINTON: I have to -- I have to...
SCHMICK: I am not done with my question. I'm just giving you the courtesy of reading your notes.
CLINTON: That's all right.
POMPEO: Willing or unwilling meeting with Al Qaeda on the ground in Benghazi Libya just hours before the attack?
CLINTON: I don't know anything about this, Congressman.
POMPEO: She relaying on...
CLINTON: It is factually not true.
POMPEO: No, it is absolutely correct.
CLINTON: ...The write on Mr. Blumenthal from most...
POMPEO: Take a look at the e-mail and you will see...
CLINTON: Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry what did you asking? The president deserves the lion share of the credit.
SCHMICK: And why is the White House to that tight that you're taking the credit?
CLINTON: Well, I was often being asked that. The president had a lot of other stuff going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And joining us once again, David Gerge, Gloria Borger, Jeffrey Toobin and Carl Bernstein. Carl, do you agree that with some of the panels earlier that he comes out of these? That are often she went into it.
BERNSTEIN: Absolutely and he was a great thespian as we've just had a look there. Three weeks ago, we were talking about Hillary Clinton and the failure of her campaign and whether she was going to even be able to finish almost. She is now in the catbird seat. She has appeared presidential. We have a look at her as she would be as president, steely, competent, informed and not giving in any inch and in all things trying to rise tonight about the cultural wars.
I never thought that I would see that, but Benghazi is a center piece of the cultural wars. The Republicans were crazy to take it up that way, because it is a complex event. And we'll see why it's complex. She rose above and showed the complexity and they kept trying to oversimplify it and make it an article of faith that she had been the terrible person and the worst thing they could have done.
COOPER: And David Gergen, I mean, it's a little bit like a Rorschach test, I mean people can kind of see into this what they want to see into depending on what side of the aisle they're on or what they think of Hillary Clinton?
GERGEN: That's absolutely true, Anderson. And I think it's a little early to coronate her as president. But I do think that the last two to three weeks she is going through a trial by fire. And she's come out of both the debate and today extremely well, I think with the American public, because she has been composed. She has been command of the facts. And she kept her emotions under very, very cool control.
And so, you know, and as you look at the Republican contest especially contrast with the Donald Trump who is loading the Republican PAC and you will see this Hillary Clinton as the alternative. I think that she is benefiting from this, but it too early to say, the election is not settled at all, a lot of bigger still to come.
BORGER: Anderson?
COOPER: Go ahead?
BORGER: One of the reasons I think that that Hillary Clinton looks so good in addition to her good performance today is that the congressional committee looks so lousy. It was completely partisan and the Democrats supporting her gently at every opportunity, and not really asking a lot of tough questions, which...
COOPER: Not really asking any tough questions.
BORGER: Right, which a lot of the Democrats have raised about the security issues about Libya policy for example and the Republicans just going at her in every which way without seeming to have a plan or a design to actually extract real information that would be useful to the public trying to make up its mind.
[21:55:00] So, as I look at the whole thing in totality as we watched all of these hours today, you know, on CNN, I would have to say that if you went into it, and you didn't like Hillary Clinton and you were thinking you wouldn't going to be believe her, you probably feel the same way coming out.
And, you know, and those who, you know, those who like her probably think she did a good job, which she did. But the Republican intention was not to turn Hillary Clinton into mother Teresa, right? But in the end, they ended up doing her a great service today just by the comparison to their partisanship.
COOPER: Jeff, legally just in terms of what is ahead for Hillary Clinton on this issue, I mean there is still this FBI investigation and that's probably the biggest concern for her, and now moving forward as opposed to what this committee says.
TOOBIN: I think at least in theory that's the worst problem. I don't even understand what criminal exposure she has at all? I mean, I really don't think that the FBI has any grounds to investigate her. And it's worth pointing out that they have never said that they are investigating her. They are sort of investigating the whole security situation involving these e-mails. So, you know, look, I don't think she has any legal problems.
Politically, this is probably going to be a close election, and lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans, and as usual, the election will probably be a close one. But as a legal matter, I don't see any of this going much anywhere at all, especially after today with which did seem to be a pretty convincing Clinton victory over her seven pursuers on the Republican side.
COOPER: David, do you agree with Jeff on that, that legally she is, you know, not facing that much from some of the FBI or other?
GERGEN: I do. I usually follow Jeff's opinions on the legal issue, and I do on this one. And I -- but I do think that look, I think there are other issues that may arise. You know, the Clintons have unfortunate history of just when they're, you know, victorious. Something else comes up to bite them. So, we'll have to wait and see how it turns up but I think, he emerges today, legally and politically a much stronger position.
COOPER: All right. I want to thank everybody on the panel joined us tonight. There is lot more ahead on this very big day. We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It has been quite a day, the repercussions of it still playing out Hillary Clinton's marathon testimony on capital hill is over and it does it for our coverage we'll see you again a little bit later for another edition of "360" tonight with more looking back at more nine or 10 hours of coverage even to 11 early from 10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.
[22:00:03] CNN Tonight with Brooke Baldwin starts now.