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Hillary Clinton Grilled in 11-Hour Hearing on Benghazi; U.S. Commando Killed in Iraq Hostage Rescue; Video Appears to Show Airstrikes Hit Syria Hospital. Aired 12a-01:00a ET

Aired October 23, 2015 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[00:00:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Hillary Clinton grilled by Congress for almost 11 hours over Benghazi. And even Republicans admit there was almost nothing new at the end of the hearing.

VAUSE: Deadly raid. The first soldier dies in the war against ISIS as special forces rescue dozens of hostages.

SESAY: Plus Patricia is now monster category 5 hurricane and is barreling towards Mexico.

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: Hours and hours and hours of questions, criticisms and rebuttals. Hillary Clinton's congressional hearing ended just a short time ago.

SESAY: The often contentious marathon hearing was to investigate Clinton's actions before, during and after the attack on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in the September 11th, 2012 attack.

VAUSE: The former secretary of state took responsibility for the deaths but forcibly denied she was to blame for any lapse in security.

Here's some of the more heated and interesting moments from the hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TREY GOWDY (R), CHAIRMAN, BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE: We are going to write that final definitive accounting of what happened in Benghazi. We would like to do it with your help and help of our Democrat colleagues but make no mistake we are going to do it nonetheless.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE MEMBER: 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 Republicans to shut up when they are telling the truth?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, 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.

REP. MIKE POMPEO (R), BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE MEMBER: 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 that 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. That was my responsibility.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R), BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE MEMBER: Libya was supposed to be -- and Mr. Roskam pointed out, this great success story for the Obama White House and the Clinton State Department. And now you have a terrorist attack. It's a terrorist attack in Libya and it's just 56 days before an election. You could 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 wracking 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'll correct them.

CUMMINGS: I move that we put into the record of entire transcript of Sydney Blumenthal. We're going to release the e-mails. Let's do the transcript. That way the world can see it.

GOWDY: Why is it that you only want Mr. Blumenthal's transcript released? Why do you want the survivor?

CUMMINGS: I'd like to have all of them released.

GOWDY: The survivors, even their names? You want that? CUMMINGS: Let me tell you something. No, you know --

GOWDY: You want that released?

CUMMINGS: Let me tell you something. Right now --

GOWDY: The only one you have asked for is Sydney Blumenthal. That's the only you've asked for. That and Miss Mills.

CUMMINGS: That's not true.

GOWDY: That's two out of 54. Now if you want to ask for some fact- witness --

(CROSSTALK)

CUMMINGS: Vote on the Blumenthal -- you said from the beginning, we want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Why don't we just put the entire transcript out there and let the world see it? What do you have to hide?

REP. PETER ROSKAM (R), BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE MEMBER: No one recommended closing, but you had two ambassadors that made several, several requests, and here's basically what happened to their requests. They were torn up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dana Bash joins us now with more on this.

So, Dana, can you tell us what we know now that we did not know before Secretary Clinton began 11 hours of testimony?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, the objective answer is not much. And I think that I can say that objectively because it's not just me saying that. Just where I'm standing, not that long ago, the Republicans on the committee came out and talked to reporters and the chairman, Trey Gowdy, was asked that question and he said he didn't think that we learned a lot more from Hillary Clinton than other committees have learned in the past from testimony.

[00:05:19] So I think that's the hard truth. However, the other argument that they make is that this is just one piece of their very large investigation. One little part of the puzzle they are trying to put together about what happened leading up to the attack in Benghazi, what happened that night and what happened afterwards so that's the answer there, but when it comes to the actual testimony from the big fish, so to speak, not so much new.

VAUSE: OK, then since we're at this point where we didn't learn a whole lot, who's to blame for that? Is it the questions and the way the committee went after Mrs. Clinton or is it because of the answers that Mrs. Clinton gave?

BASH: Well, I think it could be both or it could just be the bottom line that there isn't a whole lot new to learn. Now I'm probably going to get accused of repeating Democratic talking points because that is what Democrats have been saying in the committee, in these hallways, you know, sort of nonstop. That why do we have this committee in the first place because we've already had hours and hours of testimony from five or six committees that were already going on before this select committee was impaneled.

So I think that's part of the answer. But the other thing is, look, Hillary Clinton is a master at this. She knows how to have a substantive conversation and engage without giving away too much. And also looking like she's actually answered the question because she genuinely was. So, you know, I think that just on the pure politics of this, John, what we're hearing already tonight even from some Republicans is, wow. You know, maybe we don't want this to be political but it ended up political but not in their GOP favor. In the Democrats' favor because she actually did so well in her answers.

VAUSE: And very quickly of course, the politics of this, Mrs. Clinton is not only the former secretary of state but she is the Democratic frontrunner for the presidential nomination. So with that in mind what does today or now mean, this hearing now mean for her run for the White House?

BASH: Well, she certainly did not seem to hurt herself. That is for sure. It's very interesting when there was all this talk and controversy and debate over whether or not to put this select committee in place, the Democrats considered boycotting it. They considered saying you know what, we're not going to do this. This is just going to be witch hunt. It's all going to be about going after the woman who we believe ultimately will be our Democratic presidential nominee.

And I think that the irony is at this point that at the end of the day she did so well that perhaps the opposite might have been true, that she helped herself, particularly in the stage where she is now trying to get the Democratic nomination among Democrats. When you're talking about the general election, the Republicans who don't like her are probably always going to not like her and the same goes for the Democrats on the other side of that equation.

VAUSE: Yes. Absolutely. Dana, thank you so much. Dana Bash there, giving us some very good insight into exactly what that was today that we all watched with so much interest. Thanks.

BASH: It was long.

SESAY: Well, I want to bring in CNN military analyst and former U.S. military attache, Lt. Col. Rick Francona. He joins us live via Skype from Oregon.

Colonel Francona, always good to have you with us. So in your view, did today's hearing laid to rest the long-standing questions about Hillary Clinton's handling of the run-up and the aftermath of the attacks in Benghazi? How do you see it?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, I have to say I watched the whole thing from beginning to start, a long day. And she handled herself pretty well. You know, I was really focused on the security aspects of this. You know, I've served at five American embassies in the Middle East and I was very concerned about the security aspects of all this. And I have to say that the diplomatic security service overall does a great job. They look at the security situation in each area and they respond to it as best they can.

So I don't think that we learned anything new in this that we didn't know. So I'll give Mrs. Clinton a good job for what she did today. But I was very interested in what the process was in all of these things. I was a little concerned that the security concerns of the ambassador did not reach her desk. That was my one concern.

SESAY: And how satisfied were you with the way she responded to those questions and saying that, you know, it went to the security experts if you will at the State Department and that's why it didn't come to her? How satisfied are you with that explanation?

[00:10:01] FRANCONA: Let's just say I'm kind of middle of the road on that because having served in these embassies when we have a security concern and we send these back to the State Department, and of course I was in the Defense Department but we would always go through the regional security officer and voice our concerns.

And for the most part those were answered at that professional security officer level. But when you're dealing with something so significant as what happened in Benghazi, you know, with the security situation there, I would have thought it would have been elevated to the secretary level or at least a little higher than it was. So I was a little concerned about that but overall I could accept her answers.

SESAY: Colonel Francona, there is also the bigger question here. I mean, it feeds in to your point. But the question is as to why Ambassador Stevens wasn't withdrawn from Libya as the security situation was deteriorating in the country.

FRANCONA: Yes. Yes.

SESAY: Mrs. Clinton was saying today it was thought that the mission in Benghazi was vital to U.S. national interests. Do you agree with that assessment?

FRANCONA: Yes. This is the one question I have not heard an answer to yet, Isha. I want to know why he was in Benghazi on September 11th. This is the one day of the year, the one day in the Middle East that you would think the ambassador to a Middle East country would be in the most secure location in that country and it was not in Benghazi, it was in Tripoli at the embassy where they have real security and a real safe room.

I have no idea why he was in Benghazi at that time. It just -- it makes no sense to me. I'm sure there's a reason but I haven't heard it yet.

SESAY: Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, always a pleasure having you on the show. Thanks for the insight and perspective. Thank you. VAUSE: Josh Lockman is with us now. An expert on U.S. foreign

policy, international law as well as the Middle East.

So I want to point this out at the beginning because Benghazi is a lot more than a Republican talking point. It is a real place with a lot of real problems. This is -- this week is the fourth anniversary since the death of Moammar Gadhafi, the former Libyan leader. It was seen at the time as a real highlight of the success of the Arab spring but now the place is in chaos and no one is really looking back at that U.S. policy, but part of the international coalition, but it was U.S. policy, Secretary Clinton's policy. Why isn't anybody asking questions about that?

JOSH LOCKMAN, USC SCHOOL OF LAW: Well, I think, John, that was addressed to some degree today. Some of the Republican Congress members asked about the rationale for the intervention, also the aftermath. After Gadhafi fell was there a plan? But I think what we heard quite forcefully and effectively from Secretary Clinton today as well as at the Democratic debate last week is that this really espouses her world view.

She was an advocate for intervention in 2011 in the Obama administration because she believed along with many others, including current U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, Susan Rice and others, that if we did not intervene in Libya with the support of allies and Europe and the Arab world, we run the risk of Gadhafi regime forces regaining turf and possibly committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against Benghazi, a city of 700,000.

Days after the intervention was launched if you recall, President Obama gave a speech and mentioned and compared Benghazi to Charlotte, North Carolina. You know, a vibrant vital city here in the United States but obviously a huge population center. So the concerns again were that not enough was done in the aftermath of the intervention itself. But as the secretary mentioned today a lot was done during her tenure in the State Department, namely helping to remove the chemical weapons that were still remnants from the Gadhafi regime and also prepare that country in a froth post-Gadhafi era for new elections.

VAUSE: I just think a lot of people are terrified Libya -- well, Syria will end up being Libya. I think -- no one has raised about this.

SESAY: Yes, and -- go ahead.

LOCKMAN: Yes. I would just say is that I think that if we had not intervened in Libya we could have looked back and seen this was also a missed opportunity for intervention. We see the chaos in Syria obviously Syria is not Libya. That being said, I think we had a moment to intervene and I think Secretary Clinton is not running away from this issue. In fact it really does espouse her vision for American leadership in the globe which is muscular, multilateral and renewed engagement with the world, done with our allies as part of coalitions, and not shirking away from responsibilities to intervene when we can. SESAY: International politics to the side, let's talk about the

domestic politics at play here today. Going into this hearing. Obviously we had heard the accusations that this was nothing but a partisan -- a Republican witch hunt. Talk to me about how that shaped the way this played out today and how you viewed it.

LOCKMAN: Well, I think that narrative was somewhat born into reality today. We saw obviously acrimonious questioning and interrogation from some of the Republican Congress members and I saw more of a sober tone from the Democratic Congress members, namely Congressman Adam Schiff, Congressman Adam Smith as well, that reminded the committee, and Secretary Clinton spoke of this as well, that past bipartisan investigations into awful terrorist attacks that occurred on some of our embassies and consulates around the world.

[00:15:09] During the Clinton administration in the late '90s, the terrible al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, there was bipartisanship and there wasn't this rancor and acrimony and we saw I think today kind of -- you know, the cards spilled over as far as the -- just rancorous intent that the Republican sought in questioning the secretary.

SESAY: That said being said, will they be regretting, the Republicans that is, will they be regretting playing it the way they did?

LOCKMAN: I think they will. I think that obviously in the wake of comments we saw from Congressman McCarthy earlier this month and another congressman that there was some political impetus behind the Benghazi committee to hurt Secretary Clinton in her presidential campaign. That rationale may be flipped on its head now as she obviously performed tremendously well under a record 12-hour grilling I think in two decades we haven't seen a witness before a government investigation --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: The testimony went 11 hours, the actual grilling was eight and a half. But it's still a long time.

SESAY: It is a long time.

LOCKMAN: However you slice it was a cool and sober performance. And again what Secretary Clinton spoke about the most is the tragic loss of life of her friend, Ambassador Chris Stevens, and the three personnel and that's what this investigation ultimately should be focused on.

VAUSE: Jock Lockman, thank you for coming in and we should have a disclaimer. We should note that you are a supporter of Hillary Clinton.

LOCKMAN: Yes.

VAUSE: We should get that out there on the record.

LOCKMAN: Yes. VAUSE: Thanks for being with us.

LOCKMAN: Thank you.

SESAY: Thank you, Josh.

Now an American commando was killed Thursday in an operation to rescue dozens of hostages in Iraq who face execution. The Pentagon says 70 hostages were freed as a result of that operation. Many of them Iraqi Security Forces.

VAUSE: The U.S. service member killed was the first combat death in Iraq since 2011. We have details now from Jim Sciutto.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The deadly battle was the first time U.S. forces have directly engaged ISIS fighters on the ground in Iraq.

In a joint operation with Kurdish fighters, U.S. Special Operations forces from the elite Delta Force raided an ISIS compound to rescue hostages believed to be in imminent danger of execution.

U.S. warplanes dropped bombs on makeshift ISIS training camps, staging sites and bridges in the area. Then five helicopters brought in 30 U.S. Special Forces and 40 Kurdish fighters. As they approached the walled compound, a firefight broke out. When the mission was over, the U.S. aircraft overhead destroyed the site.

U.S. forces were not meant to enter the compound or directly engage the ISIS fighters. When Kurdish forces inside the compound were overwhelmed, the U.S. commander made the decision to enter the firefight. The U.S. soldier killed was shot inside the compound.

U.S. forces have been in Iraq on a train, advise and assist mission. The Pentagon challenged today over the decision to participate in this operation.

PETER COOK, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: This was a unique circumstance. This was a support mission, in which they were providing support to the Iraqi -- the Kurdistan regional government. And U.S. forces are not in an active combat mission in Iraq.

SCIUTTO: In the days before the raid, U.S. surveillance spotted mass graves dug and ready inside the compound prompting immediate action. U.S. officials say that 70 prisoners were rescued, 20 Iraqi Security Forces, as well as Iraqi civilians and interestingly ISIS fighters accused of spying. Missing, however, were the Kurdish captives they were sent in to rescue.

COOK: It's not clear to us exactly who would be there. And so that's one of the things we're going through right now, the debriefs as to exactly who those folks were.

SCIUTTO: Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still to come here on NEWSROOM L.A., Russian forces carrying out a dizzying number of missions in Syria in just 24 hours. Vladimir Putin reveals a possible change in strategy about Bashar al-Assad. That's coming up.

SESAY: Hurricane Patricia is closing in on Mexico's western shorelines. CNN is tracking the storm. We'll tell you what you need to know. That's coming up next. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:23:08] SESAY: Hurricane Patricia in the eastern pacific intensifies to a category five storm on Thursday as it barrels towards Mexico. U.S. National Hurricane Center says it will make landfall by midday Friday.

VAUSE: And in Mexico, they are getting ready for that bad weather. But the hurricane could grow even stronger before reaching the Mexican coast.

Karen Maginnis now tracking the storm with all the details.

So, Karen, this storm could actually exceed a category five but there's no categories beyond that.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Essentially it maxes out at that category five. But this system, we weren't really expecting it to be a category four, even a category five, but it mushroomed in this very warm water. Now the water temperatures here run about 30 to about 33 degrees Celsius or in the high 80s if you will but right before it makes landfall, because of the interaction with this land here, we are expecting it maybe to weaken just a little bit to category four. But don't be fooled.

This is still a powerful hurricane that is going to rival the two most deadly hurricanes that they have seen along the pacific coast of Mexico. Very powerful looking. There you can see a clearly defined eye. And when we see an eye that as tightly wound as this is, that tells us that this has increased in strength and intensity. Right now 160-mile-an-hour winds. The two hurricanes I was talking about, 1959, then we have back in 1997.

All right. I mentioned that as this makes landfall this is going to be a category five. Maybe weaken slightly to category four but it is still powerful enough to produce between 10 to 20 inches of rainfall. Some of those areas right around Manzanillo, also Puerto Vallarta. We're expecting the heaviest rainfall amounts in that purple shaded area between 10 and 20.

Mudslides, landslides, beach erosion, flooding. The infrastructures are going to be impacted. You will see widespread destruction associated with this category five hurricane midday coming up tomorrow. Back to you, guys.

[00:25:15] VAUSE: OK. Karen, thank you. We will keep an eye on that. Of course worrying 24 hours or so to say the least.

SESAY: Yes.

VAUSE: Debris from an American cargo ship missing for more than three weeks now has washed ashore. The company which owns El Faro tells CNN the materials from the ship were found on a number of beaches in the Bahamas on Thursday. The ship disappeared not far from there October 1st.

SESAY: It was presumed to have sunk with 33 people on board after encountering Hurricane Joaquin. The ship was en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Jacksonville, Florida.

VAUSE: Russia says it's carried out 53 air combat missions in Syria in just one 24-hour period. And the Russian Defense Ministry says it has detected even more ISIS targets than the U.S. originally reported.

Meantime Russian President Vladimir Putin says Syria's president is prepared to talk with Syrian opposition leaders. The two men met a few days ago. Mr. Putin also said Bashar al-Assad has a, quote, "positive attitude about potential Russian support of armed rebels who would fight ISIS."

SESAY: Mean, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to meet with Russia's foreign minister in Vienna Friday with Syria at the top of the agenda. The U.S. has said in the past they think Russia's involvement only complicates the issue.

And now to a story that we warn you contains disturbing images. A Syrian humanitarian organization has posted video of what it says is the aftermath of a missile strike in the rebel held city of Idlib.

VAUSE: The Syrian American Medical Society which runs the hospital says Russian warplanes were responsible. Moscow denies targeting civilians in its Syrian raids.

We get these details from Nick Paton Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Warplanes have just struck and missed in rebel Idlib. Aid workers are out and say, run, the plane is coming back.

This aid worker from the Syrian Civil Defense Unit runs inside the hospital. One of his colleagues dead. Five injured. A dozen total dead.

The Syrian-American Medical Association, who run this hospital, told CNN it was targeted by Russian jets in, quote, "a double-tap." One strike and then another to catch the first responders. Russia denies targeting civilians.

In the first attack this local man says, "Thank god there were no injuries. Then the warplane turned around and that time all the people were gathered and it shot two missiles again." It is the third report of hospitals hit in the offensive in and around

Aleppo in the week. Not far, west of Aleppo, the same rescue group find what they say is an unexploded cluster bomb. Markings visible. Russia denied first they're using cluster munitions. But two appeared to crash through this roof into this home, making the holes beneath this boy's feet.

"It came and hit for the first time," he says. "The warplane shot a missile that had cluster bombs. It came on to us. None of us were injured. But our neighbor, Abdul Aziz Bashir (PH) was injured. And two women were killed."

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, southern Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back much more on the marathon Benghazi hearing including more on the Clinton friend who figured so prominently. Just who is Sydney Blumenthal?

SESAY: Plus Donald Trump is known for ruffling a few feathers on Twitter but its campaign's latest social media blunder may have hurt his chances with Iowa voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. You are watching CNN Newsroom L.A. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Just on 9:32 here on the West Coast of the U.S. Time to check the headlines.

A U.S. soldier has died during a rescue operation to save dozens of hostages in Northern Iraq. The Pentagon says 70 hostages were freed, many Iraqi Security Forces; all were facing execution. This was the first time U.S. forces have directly engaged ISIS fighters on the ground in Iraq.

SESAY: (Inaudible) are searching for escaped fugitive, Joaquin Guzman, better known as "El Chapo", in northwest Mexico, and now the U.S. Authorities say the drug lord broke his leg last week while on the run. "El Chapo's" his brother-in-law and several others suspected of helping him escape have been detained.

VAUSE: South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, is set to meet with student leaders in a few hours, amid protests against proposed increases in tuition fees. On Thursday students marched to the headquarters of the ruling party, demanding officials fulfill their promise of free education. They say tuition fees disproportionately harm poor and Black students.

SESAY: U.S. Republicans grill former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during an 11 hour congressional hearing Thursday over the 2012 Benghazi attack. She took responsibility for the death of a U.S. Ambassador and three other Americans but said she is not to blame for security lapses before the attack. Clinton also took offense when Republicans insinuated she deliberately blocked request for more security at the diplomatic mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, former SECRETARY OF STATE: It is a very personally painful accusation. It has been rejected and disproven by nonpartisan, dispassionate investigators. But, nevertheless, having it continue to be bandied around is deeply distressing to me. You, know, I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: This hearing is all part of a 17-month long investigation, which has cost U.S. taxpayers almost $5 million. While Hillary Clinton stood her ground as she was grilled for hours, members of the committee openly bickered in front of her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TREY GOWDY, (R- SC): I'll be happy to but you need to make sure the record is correct.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D-MD): And that's exactly what I want to do.

GOWDY: Well then go ahead.

CUMMINGS: I'm about to tell you. I move that we put into the record the entire transcript of Sydney Blumenthal. We're going to release the e-mail, let's do the transcript. that way the world can see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I second that motion.

well, we didn't -

CUMMINGS: Motion has been seconded.

[00:35]

GOWDY: Well we're not going to take that up at a hearing. We'll take that up at a business meeting.

CUMMINGS: Mr. Sherman and I have consulted with a (inaudible) and they have informed us that we have a right to a recorded vote on that motion. We want - you know, you asked for the truth -

GOWDY: Well, I'll tell you what, let's do then --

CUMMINGS: -- the whole truth and nothing but the truth, well that's what we want to have. Put -- let the world see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: There were emotional, dramatic moments, like this one you're about to see, when Republican Peter Roskam accused Mrs. Clinton of ignoring requests for increased security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER ROSKAM, (R-IL) : What's your responsibility to Benghazi? That's my question.

CLINTON: My responsibility was to be briefed and to discuss with the security experts and the policy experts whether we would have a post in Benghazi; whether with we would continue it; whether we would make it permanent. And as I have said repeatedly throughout the day, no one ever recommended closing the post in Benghazi.

ROSCO: No one recommended closing, but you had two ambassadors that made several, several requests and here's, basically, what happened to their requests. They were torn up. They were dismissed.

CLINTON: Well, that's not true, Congressman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Bin the end did they just relitigate the whole thing, or did we hear anything new? Josh Rogan is a CNN legal analyst and columnist for "Bloomberg View". He joins us now from Washington to try and get to the heart of all of this. You know, Josh, that first clip we showed, the argument between Elijah Cummings and Chairman Gowdy, it was all over this guy called Sydney Blumenthal, a friend of the Clintons', his access and the emails he had to Mrs. Clinton when she was Secretary of State. Why was that important to Republicans?

JOSH ROGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, the frame of the whole Committee Hearing was that the Democrats are accusing the Republicans of setting up a process to rehash what seven other investigations have already investigated. Well, Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the committee, believes that the Sydney Blumenthal line of questioning is relevant because that's what his committee has turned up that hasn't been turned up before. The Committee found emails that were not produced by the State Department, related to Sydney Blumenthal's memos to Hillary Clinton. He feels like he hasn't gotten answers on that. He thinks the tale of how close Sydney Blumenthal was to Hillary Clinton is indicative of a pattern of behavior by the Secretary that shows she wasn't trusting professionals on security; rather, she was trusting her friends and her political partisan friends at that. The problem is that through all of this investigation we learned very little that was new about her interactions with Sydney Blumenthal. Secretary Clinton just maintained that those were memos from a friend that she took -- didn't take seriously and, basically, nothing was added to the record that would enlighten us as to whether or not this man had real influence in the State Department at this crucial time.

VAUSE: This whole thing went just shy of eleven hours. Clinton was the iron lady. she barely flinched. Do you think she stumbled at any point?

ROGAN: Well, I don't think she stumbled. She held up very well. She didn't take the bait when she was baited. There were certain times when it seemed that certain members of the Committee, especially Republican members, were intentionally trying to provoke her to get a reaction. She saw it coming and she declined to give them the sound bite or the reaction that they wanted. We remember in 2013 when she testified and she said what difference does that make, and that was used as a sound byte for years. So, she held her own. At the same time she did reveal a couple of new pieces of information. There were some communications that she had with here daughter Chelsea, and with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, that showed that what she was saying about the attack public and privately, in terms of the cause of the attack, were two different things. That was new. But, for 12-hour hearing, those are pretty slim revelations and overall she came out looking like she withheld and stood up to the scrutiny.

You know, Josh, I think we have to wrap it up here but I think Adam Schiff, the democrat on the Committee, he summed it up. He said, "if you are a Hillary Clinton supporter you'll still think was a partisan witch hunt. If you're a Republican, you'll still think there was a cover-up of Benghazi. At the end of the day nothing has changed."

ROGAN: Right.

VAUSE: Josh, thanks for being with us.

ROGAN: Thank you.

VAUSE: Paul Ryan says that he will run for the Speaker of the U.S. House Of Representatives, after giving a very strong no for a lot of weeks. The Republican from Wisconsin says he could be a unifying figure in Congress after winning support from an ultraconservative wing of the Republican party. the House will vote for the new speaker next week.

SESAY: Ryan ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2012. He chairs the Tax Writing Weighs And Means Committee. The current Speaker, John Boehner, has announced he is resigning.

Well, U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump, is blaming one of his interns for insulting some voters. A retweet from the Republican frontrunner said "Ben Carson is now leading in the polls in Iowa. Too much for Monsanto in the corn creates issues in the brain."

[00:40]

VAUSE: Can't trust those interns.

SESAY: Interns.

VAUSE: This came just hours after polls showed Mr. Trump behind fellow candidate Ben Carson in the Midwestern state. Donald Trump later removed the post from his Twitter page and then tweeted an explanation. He said, "the young intern who accidentally did a retweet, apologizes. " Be sorry. This poll was the first to show Mr. Trump trailing by a significant margin nationally, all in four early states, since late-June.

Okay, still to come here, young Palestinians say they are fed up with what has become routine in their lives. We will go to the streets of Hebron, where boys are joining the clashes, hoping the crisis ends.

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VAUSE: Well, China's Xi Jinping took time out for a stop at the pub on Thursday during his state visit to the U.K. Why not?

SESAY: As you do.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Mr. Xi and the U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, shared a pint after a day of extensive talks. Officials from both countries have hailed the visit as an encouraging step toward improving relations.

SESAY: A Downing Street statement said key foreign policy discussion topics included ISIS, Ukraine and regional security in Asia. President Xi wraps up his visit Friday.

VAUSE: Go to the Middle East now, and life is anything but typical for Palestinian children in the West Bank. They are growing up in the middle of a conflict and many of them are involved in daily clashes with Israeli forces.

SESAY: But they say it's not only Israel they're angry with. CNN International Correspondent Ben Wedeman reports.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Throwing the stones at Israel solders in the streets of Hebron are not men; more often they're boys. These clashes are not new, although they're more intense and more frequent now. But, they have raged on a regular basis longer than these boys and young men have been alive. From an early age, the children of Hebron have become accustomed to the sound and fury of street battles. They have grown up hearing that someday there will be peace, that someday Israel will pull out of the West Bank. Few believe it anymore.

[00:45]

I asked this 15-year-old, who calls himself Halid (ps), if he is satisfied with the Palestinian leadership.

HALID, via translator: No, he responds, because they haven't given us anything. they go around inaugurating this, opening that, but they don't know what to do with their own people, while we are being killed and kicked around.

WEDEMAN: And with the disillusionment, a machismo beyond their years.

YUSEF, via translator: We want to show the occupier, says Yusuf, that the smallest child is braver than the biggest one of them.

WEDEMAN: Unemployment is high in Hebron. The city's Old Market is often shut down by clashes and strikes; a city in whose heart Israeli soldiers guard several hundred Jewish settlers living behind walls and barbed wire. The old have learned to put up with it all. The young are impatient and restless. With little prospect for change, little faith in their leadership or the world being able to stop the slide in to more violence, a pattern is established which is hard to break.

The flurry of diplomatic activity to solve this crisis, to bring the violence to an end, doesn't really have much impact on the streets of Hebron, where the situation has taken on a life of its own. There are clashes, people are hurt. There are attacks, people are killed. There are funerals. There are more clashes. And so on and so on and so on.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Hebron.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: To Sweden now. A masked man, carrying what appeared to be a sword, killed a student and teacher at a school on Thursday. Police are investigating whether he had links to right-wing extremist groups. Before the attack, he posed for this photo wearing a mask and helmet. One student said she thought it was a Halloween joke.

VAUSE: It wasn't a joke. Along with two fatalities, two were injured in the attack. Police shot the man, he later died. The Prime Minister is calling this a dark day for Sweden.

SESAY: We will have the latest on Europe's growing refugee crisis as reports emerge of a possible plot against some of those seeking asylum.

VAUSE: Also, Slovenia is the latest hotspot on the European migrant trail. Now the country is asking for help with the staggering number of refugees crossing its border.

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KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello everyone, I'm CNN Meteorologist, Karen Maginnis. We are closely watching what happens with Hurricane Patricia. This could be one for the record books, especially along the west coast, or the southwest coast of Mexico. [00:50]

Its impact is going to be extreme over the next 24 to 48 hours, with the potential for mud and landslides. Very heavy rainfall. We are looking at the potential for some coastal beach erosion as well. Over the next 24 hours, it is expected to make landfall somewhere between Puerto Vallarta and Manzaneo. In its wake, some areas could see as much as 20 inches of rainfall. So flooding a huge issue here, as well.

Speaking of flooding we could see that across the South Central United States, as a weather system sweeps through and taps that Gulf Of Mexico moisture. Some showers and thunderstorms, localized flooding as we go all the way through Sunday in the forecast. Take a look at the rainfall totals that we are expecting. Six to ten inches in some cases in an area that has seen exceptional drought. There was a brief time we saw the rainfall move in, that broke the drought a little bit, but with this heavy rainfall on the way looks like flooding is a problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SESAY: We turn our attention now to Europe's migrant crisis, and a country that now finds itself on the frontline. Police in Slovenia say more than 12,000 migrants and refugees enter the country within a 24-hour period. That's the biggest number of arrivals there in a single day. Thousands have been streaming in from Croatia since Hungary closed the borders last week.

VAUSE: The crisis has overwhelmed many of the Balkan states. Slovenia is asking other EU nations to send police to try to help control the influx.

SESAY: Well, German media reports that police stopped a plot to attack refugee shelters. 13 suspected members of a far-right movement are in custody accused of planning to set fire to refugee homes. Authorities say concerns over these attacks has sharply grown as the number of migrant arrivals hit new records.

VAUSE: Photographer, Marco Resevich, has taken some photos of refugees along the Serbian/Croatian border.

SESAY: Now he shares his stories of those desperately seeking a better life, but finding much hardship along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RESEVIC, PHOTOGRAPHER: I'm in a city called Sid. It's a city in western part of Serbia, on the very border with Croatia. The scenes at the border are, let's say, very chaotic. It's not an actual border crossing, like crossing where you have cars and where you have a check point. It's open now, only for refugees. So the infrastructure is very bad. The (inaudible) goes to some (inaudible). There is mud all around. Too many people are there. It's getting cold in Serbia. Last night the temperature was around 30 degrees Celsius. There are many families with small children. They are trying to warm themselves. They are all sleeping on the ground. During the night, usually the police are not letting people cross. Then, in the morning, everybody gets nervous. They want to start going further. The police were with unable to stop all of the refugees. At some point the police let all of them, who are there at that moment, to pass, and then the cycle continues.

Usually, of course, when you see a family they are just normal people, you know? A young couple with two with children, they were forced to leave their home country, Syria. They want to go further, to Germany. While they were crossing the sea, their boat began to sink. They were really afraid and they almost died there in the water. I ask do you expect it to be better than in your home country and she smiled and said, no, no. There is no place like home.

She was there with his family. She said that he lost his leg due to the war conditions in his country. It was a car bomb. He was forced to leave and he just hopes for some better future for him and especially for his children. He told the story to me. He said, you know that I lost my (inaudible) along the way. I asked him how does he hope that he will manage to find his wife. He's saying that he's really desperate for this. He hopes my message maybe to help in this process, that maybe somebody can recognize him.

[00:55]

The situation is really bad but somehow it doesn't seem it is influencing their strong will. They are all really somehow convinced that they are going towards something better. The hope is, in all of them, it's very strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: If you would like to help the migrants, please go to our Impact Your World website. There you will find background and personal stories from the crisis, as well as links to legitimate organizations bringing aid to the refugees. You'll find that at cnn.com/impact.

SESAY: And thank you for watching CNN newsroom, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. We will be back with another hour of news after a very short break. Stay with us. you are watching with CNN Live, all around the world.

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VAUSE: This is CNN Newsroom, live from Los Angeles.