Requests for security from the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens were essentially ripped up, Rep. Peter Roskam said during Thursday's Benghazi Committee testimony.
At one point as the Illinois Republican was questioning former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility when he took a handful of papers into his hands.
"[Y]ou had two ambassadors that made several, several requests and here is basically what happened to their requests," he said, ripping the stack of papers in two.
"Well, that's just not true, congressman," Clinton replied.
"Madam Secretary, they didn't get through. It didn't help them," Roskam said.
Roskam later read from Clinton's closing testimony on Benghazi in January 2013.
"Nobody knew the dangers or the opportunities better than Chris. … He never wavered, he never asked to come home. He never said let's shut it down, quit or go somewhere else because he understood it was pivotal for America to be represented in that place at that time," Clinton said at the time.
"Secretary Clinton, I think you should have added this," Roskam said, "Chris Stevens kept faith with the State Department that I headed even when we broke faith with him. He accepted my invitation to serve in Benghazi even though he was denied the security. I and my colleagues were distracted and we breached our fundamental duty to mitigate his danger and secure his safety and that of Glen Doherty, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods. That would be more accurate, wouldn't you say, Secretary Clinton?"
"Of course, I would not say that, and I think it's a disservice for you to make that statement, Congressman," Clinton replied.
Roskam asked who his statement did a disservice to. Clinton began saying that it was a disservice of how hard the people who are given the responsibility of "making these tough security decisions" worked, when Roskam cut in.
"The people that were disciplined? Did they keep faith with Chris Stevens? No," Roskam said.
Stevens, Doherty, Smith and Woods died during the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the Benghazi diplomatic facility.
Fox News tweeted video of the exchange:
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