On Thursday Oct. 22, leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton spent 11 hours answering the House Benghazi Committee’s questions related to her e-mail scandal and Benghazi-Gate.

Benghazi-Gate, is the scandal, which followed the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the US diplomatic mission to Libya. The assault itself, occurring in the evening, at the hands of Islamic militants, resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Since the attack, Congress has made several investigative attempts to find the cause of the deaths and discover who was responsible for the lack of increased security, given the violent civil unrest.

Having appeared multiple times before the Senate Foreign Relations and the House Foreign Affairs Committees to discuss the Benghazi attacks, Oct. 22 was the first time Clinton went in front of this specific committee.

Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy stated the investigation was to discover “what happened before, during, and after the attacks that killed” four Americans. Throughout the process, he has maintained the necessity for a lengthy and extensive investigation. Explaining to Clinton why she was only recently called to testify, Gowdy said, “…you had an unusual e-mail arrangement with yourself, which meant the State Department could not produce your e-mails to us.”

The majority of Republicans have been in support of this investigations, as well as others, feeling they hadn’t yet gotten to the bottom of what went wrong a little over 3 years ago. However, the view of a majority of Democrats as been the opposite: that continued investigations into the matter are purely for political purposes.

In her introductory statement, Clinton requested the committee put aside party politics and look at the facts, rather than question the patriotism of anyone involved “with whom we disagree.”

“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. My challenge, to you, members of this committee, is the same challenge I put to myself: let’s be worthy of the trust the American people have bestowed upon us.”

For 11 hours, Clinton testified to the committee’s questions, meanwhile, the hearing itself became a shouting match between the Republican, led by Chairman Gowdy, and Democratic members, led by Elijah Cummings, from Maryland.

Cummings insisted it is “impossible… for any reasonable person to continue denying that Republicans are squandering millions of taxpayer dollars on this abusive effort to derail Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign,” continuing on that the other investigations had “honored the memories of the four brave Americans who were killed in Benghazi.” Whereas, he believed, this committee was a tool of the Republican National Committee, with no rules, nor deadline, with an unlimited budget, trying to destroy Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Clinton maintained she had never received any request for further security or to shut down the diplomatic mission. A few Republican committee members questioned her knowledge of the United States’ presence in Libya, but Clinton asserted her knowledge of the situation in the country.

The House select committee on Benghazi wasn’t successful in any respect, in my opinion. I truly believe there’s vital information in Hillary Clinton’s e-mails; however, all I think will ever be found in them is evidence she had little knowledge of the situation in Benghazi, nothing that would be as straightforward as denying requests for more security or an extraction of the diplomatic mission there.

I believe the only thing that was proved by the committee was how divided our nation has become. Politics, on either side, has become a grudge match in which politicians will do anything to tear each other down. I honestly believe many Republicans are trying to get the root of a serious problem, but many Democrats are dismissing it as political conniving. Either way, the Republicans and Democrats of the House Benghazi Committee made the government of the United States look more partisan than ever before, ignoring the fact that four Americans lost their lives because of a serious mistake.