Hillary Clinton survives grilling over Benghazi attack

You have to hand it to Hillary Clinton. She is armour-plated. She survived a ferocious grilling on her role in Benghazi without ever losing her cool. Dare I say it, she seemed to enjoy her 11 hours in the lion's den.

And you have to hand it to the Republicans on the investigative committee.

They never miss an opportunity to blow it.

Hillary drove her inquisitors mad yesterday because she was in control of the facts, she remained composed, and she proved a masterfully evasive target. In frustration, the Republicans congressmen then massively over-played their hand.

It felt like a court room, not a Congressional panel. One in which the prosecution was wildly over-reaching.

Mrs Clinton kept to her narrative: She was not directly involved in the decision to withhold extra security from the US consulate in Benghazi; she deeply regretted what happened; the loss of four American lives is a tragedy but US diplomats cannot operate from a bunker.

Her opponents still firmly believe that there is a smoking gun deep in her email trail, one that will eventually show that she has deceived the American people.

But there is a problem. However hard Republicans look - and this investigation has now lasted longer than Watergate - they simply can't find the evidence.

They were left flailing. Clutching at straws. Looking desperate.If their ambition was to damage her Presidential ambitions, they failed.