Hillary Clinton called the Benghazi terror attack the “biggest regret” of her tenure as secretary of State on Monday, a message she’s expected to emphasize as she ponders a 2016 White House run.
Republicans have hammered Clinton over the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in 2012, chipping away at her record on national security. An internal review of the attack faulted the State Department for failing to provide better security at the U.S. consulate but Republicans say Clinton has unfairly escaped blame.
Clinton slammed her critics at a Senate hearing last year – she famously demanded to know “what difference does it make?” what prompted the attack – but has since adopted a different tone.
“My biggest, you know, regret is what happened in Benghazi,” Clinton said when asked to identify “do-overs” of her time as America’s top diplomat during her keynote appearance before the the National Automobile Dealers Association in New Orleans. “It was a terrible tragedy, losing four Americans, two diplomats and now it’s public, so I can say two CIA operatives, losing an ambassador like Chris Stevens, who was one of our very best and had served in Libya and across the Middle East and spoke Arabic.”