Hillary Clinton launched a full-court press in defense of her handling of the terrorist attack on a U.S. Consulate in the north African city of Benghazi on Sept. 11 and 12, 2012.

Clinton, who was the secretary of the Department of State under President Barack Obama at the time of the attack, attempted to knock down scrutiny of the administration's handling of the attack in her 2014 book Hard Choices, which was published as the former U.S. senator was believed to be laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign in the 2016 election.

 

“Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country,” Clinton wrote in a chapter dedicated to the attack.

The Benghazi attack killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. The timing of the attack also made it a major news story in the United States: It was orchestrated less than a month from the election between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, meaning the attack had the potential to damage the president's re-election campaign.

What Hillary Clinton Wrote in Her Book

In segments of her book leaked to the new outlet Politico in May 2014, Clinton attempted to rise about the controversy she and fellow Democrats believed was being fomented by Republicans seeking to undermine her presidential aspirations.

“I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me,” Clinton wrote in Hard Choices.

The former first lady devoted 34 pages of the book to the Benghazi attack.

Book Expands on Clinton's Testimony on Benghazi

Hillary's Clinton's book included her most expansive comments on the attack, including her January 2013 testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

During that hearing, Clinton was at times defiant and combative in defending both her and the Obama's administration's handling of Benghazi, particularly over the issue of how the attacks originated.

"With all due respect," Clinton responded to a Republican U.S. senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, "the fact is, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again." 

Republicans Persist in Attacking Clinton on Benghazi

Critics, particularly those in the Republican party, claimed the Obama administration attempted to cover up the fact that the attack was an act of terror, and that it was unprepared for such an event, so that it would not damage his chance at re-election.

Those accusations continued even after Clinton released her book in 2014.

The Republican National Committee, responding to the leaked segments of Clinton's book, said of Clinton in a written statement: "Most Americans would probably agree she made the wrong decisions. The more Americans learn about hard choices like these, the less likely they will be to choose Clinton in any future election. A book isn't going to change that."