Clinton faces Benghazi 'interrogation' on Oct. 22

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton faces a congressional grilling on Oct. 22 over her role during and after the deadly attacks on the US mission in Benghazi, a hearing one top Democrat blasted as a "political hit job." 

Clinton, who served as President Barack Obama's first secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, will make her highly-anticipated public appearance before the House committed tasked with investigating the 2012 attacks that left four Americans dead.
 
If she performs well, Clinton could convince skeptical voters that it is time to move on from the controversy that has dogged her presidential campaign and address issues such as how to improve the US economy and address foreign policy challenges.
 
Should her testimony raise more questions than it answers, Clinton could face a heightened barrage of Republican attacks during the 13-month run up to the November 2016 election.
 
The Benghazi committee has been deeply controversial, and in recent weeks GOP lawmakers including the number two Republican in the House, Kevin McCarthy, suggested that the panel served to help damage Clinton's standing in the presidential race.
 
The murky events of September 11, 2012 began when Islamist extremists attacked and ransacked a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi.
 
Ambassador Christopher Stevens is believed to have sought shelter in a safe room in the compound. His lifeless body was located at a local hospital that night, the first killing of a US ambassador since 1979.
 
Another American died at the compound, while two more died in a subsequent mortar attack.
 
Congress conducted seven probes into the attack, and Clinton launched an Accountability Review Board to investigate the...