Secretary Clinton won the battle by following the Process.
Representative Pompeo’s line of questioning at the Benghazi hearings was designed to show that Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Stevens were communicating outside of a secure environment. To complete the circle, the committee had to establish a clear relationship between Sidney Blumenthal and Hillary Clinton especially in the area of discussing International Affairs via private communication channels such as email, telephone, or physical visits was extremely important.
But here is where the breakdown occurred.
The critical moment came during the questioning by Representative Roby. She asked Mrs. Clinton if she had a SCIF in her home (which shows that she must have just learned about SCIFs in the last week or so). Asking the Secretary of State if he/she has a SCIF or access to a SCIF is like asking if the Pope is Catholic). SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) are used to protect sensitive activities and assets. What is said or seen within a SCIF cannot be heard or seen from outside the SCIF.
Secretary Clinton told Representative Roby, “…yes I have a SCIF. I also have secure phones, etc…”. At this point they set up the environment that needed to be compromised that would give them a valid case. But Secretary Clinton may have short-circuited their strategy because she broke out in laughter which only means she probably couldn’t believe that a sitting member of our legislature was asking such a stupid question.
So now it is Congressman Pompeo’s turn to gather enough information from Secretary Clinton that would complete the circle and show that the FIREWALL between the secure and nonsecure environments at Secretary Clinton’s home were compromised by her. So his questions about Ambassador Stevens having her personal email, fax number, cell phone number, and her home address were important in being the bridge to that compromise. Unfortunately, Secretary Clinton answered that Ambassador Stevens had the 24x7 number of State Department Operations and that she was in touch all night long with what was going on in Libya using her secure environment. Those were the blasts that blew their hopes and dreams out of the sky.
The premise of the entire hearing rested on Secretary Clinton answering yes to Ambassador Stevens having Secretary Clinton's personal and private communications assets. They were hoping to establish that those assets were undoubtedly used to discuss State Department Business. That would have established the link needed to show a breakdown of the firewall between Secretary Clinton's secure and nonsecure environments and completed the circle. Too bad for them but it appears that Secretary Clinton adhered to proper security guidelines.
So we the taxpayer spent $5 million on this “fishing” expedition that if at the end of the day had found that Secretary Clinton had compromised security would have had absolutely nothing to do with what led to the tragedy at Benghazi. However, they would have had Secretary Clinton’s scalp.
Congressman Pompeo summed the bloodshed up without knowing it when he said, “…Mr. Blumenthal had each of those and did each of those things” (in referencing the personal email and cellphone). “This man upon who provided you so much information on Libya had access to you in ways that were very different than the access that a very Senior Diplomat had to your -- to you and your person.”