What Republicans failed to do before Hillary’s testimony: read the report from the Accountability Review Board

Every accusation Republicans threw at Hillary Clinton was ALREADY debunked by the Accountability Review Board (ARB). Hillary referenced ARB over and over again during her testimony, and made the point that the reason we have ARB is because it takes politics and partisanship out of situations like this. 

Valid points Hillary brought up:

• Hillary Clinton: “The ARB made very clear that the level of responsibility for the failures that they outlined was set at the Assistant Secretary level and below.” Those who were found responsible have been placed on administrative leave. The ARB did not find Hillary Clinton responsible.  
• According to the ARB report, many of the security requests from Libya were sent to Tripoli, not Washington. When operating in other countries, security requests are often sent to the host nation because A. they can respond quicker, and B. much of the security is provided by the host nation. ARB has recommended ways we can fix this. 
• Hillary receives over 1 million cables every single year. Obviously something went wrong and Ambassador Steven’s cable was not sent directly to Hillary’s desk. But that is exactly what is being fixed. The vast majority of the time, the State Department gets it right. But as history and Benghazi prove, the world we live in is not a perfect science. Mistakes happen and then they are corrected. 
• Additional security funds were denied by House Republicans.
• The administration did not intentionally mislead the American public. The administration was giving the American public information they received from the intelligence community, which they believed to be accurate at the time. The ARB report states that, even to this day, a clear picture of what happened is still not fully understood. Numerous questions remain. 
• There have been 18 other ARBs conducted after tragedies like this, none of which were declassified. Hillary Clinton: “I did not have to declassify the ARB. I could have joined 18 of the other ARB’s, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, kept it classified and then, you know, just said goodbye. That’s not who I am. That’s not what I do. And I have great confidence that the Accountability Review Board did the job they were asked to do, made the recommendations that they thought were based on evidence, not on emotion.”
• Our embassies will always be a target for those who hate the United States, and protecting them will never be a perfect science. And sadly, this is not the first nor the last time we will have Americans die overseas. All we can do is improve, which is exactly what Hillary Clinton is doing by implementing the changes the ARB has recommended.