Adriana Cohen: Benghazi hearing may send Clinton's campaign to trash bin
In two weeks' time, we'll know whether Hillary Clinton is still in the presidential race or is sent packing.
How she performs in front of a GOP-led special Congressional panel probing the September 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, as well as her missing emails, could convince Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to change her mind and run - or open the door to another Democrat.
Maryland's Martin O'Malley and even Vermont's Bernie Sanders could suddenly look a lot better after this show-and-tell before Congress.
It's that big a day.
An attorney for Clinton said yesterday the former U.S. secretary of state is willing to appear before U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy's select committee for one day come May 18, or whenever they want her to show.
Gowdy, a Republican from South Carolina, could produce an as-yet unidentified smoking gun that could sink Clinton's scandal-plagued candidacy. Or, she could come across weak or evasive under questioning about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya that resulted in the avoidable deaths of four Americans - including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
If Hillary Clinton can't stand up to Gowdy, voters could lose confidence fast. There are still many questions that need to be answered.
Plus, the committee will also pepper her on her secret email server while in office - double trouble for the Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee.
Clinton needs a command performance. She has to answer if she gave the deadly order to "stand down," which delayed the CIA contractors' rescue mission on the ground that night in Benghazi.
She also needs to say if she was tied to scrubbing the infamous "talking points" given to former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who went on the Sunday talk shows and falsely blamed the attack on a YouTube video.
If Clinton fumbles, the 2016 presidential field could be wide open. What happened in Benghazi would finally make a difference after all.
We'll see in a few weeks. Until then, Warren would be wise to update her talking points, just in case.
Adriana Cohen is co-host of "Boston Herald Drive" on Herald Radio and WMEX AM 1510 weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. Follow her on Twitter @AdrianaCohen16.
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