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Hillary Clinton finds her temper in fiery exchange with Senator Ron Johnson | World news | guardian.co.uk:
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Hillary Clinton finds her temper in fiery exchange with Senator Ron Johnson

Secretary of state loses patience with Republican senator and rejects claims she misled American public over Benghazi attack

Tom McCarthy
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 January 2013 17.51 GMT
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Clinton said: 'It is our job to figure out what happened and to do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again'

Hillary Clinton has famously spent more time on the road than any previous secretary of state. On Wednesday she took an extra trip – to the woodshed.

Badgered by Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson about her handling of the attack in Benghazi, Libya, Clinton suddenly lost her patience and found her temper.

"With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans," Clinton said. "Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and to do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator."

Johnson thanked her and said he had no further questions.

Before her outburst, Johnson had interrupted Clinton repeatedly, protesting that "we were misled that there were supposedly protests" before the attack. "A simple phone call could have ascertained immediately" what the cause of the attack was, Johnson said. Why didn't she make it?

Clinton said it would have been inappropriate to short-circuit the normal flow of operations.

"I realize that's a good excuse," Johnson said.

"No, it's a fact," Clinton replied.