Cummings Gets Benghazi Hearing’s First Applause With Firey Rant (VIDEO)

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 22: Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., spar during a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing in Longworth Building featuring testimony by former Secreta... UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 22: Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., spar during a House Select Committee on Benghazi hearing in Longworth Building featuring testimony by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, October 22, 2015. The 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, took the lives of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Over 10 hours into the Benghazi Committee’s hearing on Thursday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) got the first applause line.

As the energy to the room slowed into a slog over discussion of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, Cummings took his turn in the third round of questioning to issue an impassioned indictment of the committee’s direction.

“It bothers me when I hear people even imply that you didn’t care about your people. That’s not right,” Cummings said. “And then I sit here and I watch you. And I saw how you kind of struggled when you were talking about that night. And I just for one want to thank you.”

He suggested what the committee was doing was “Monday morning quarterbacking.”

“So I don’t know what we want from you. Do we want to badger you over and over again until you get tired, until we do get the gotcha moment that he’s talking about? We’re better than that,” Cummings said, his voice raising. “We are so much better. We’re a better country. We’re better than using taxpayer dollars to try to destroy a campaign. That’s not what America is all about!”

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