Washington (CNN)The bitter political undercurrents surrounding the Benghazi attacks erupted Thursday with Democrats and Republicans feuding over the role of a special investigative panel while Hillary Clinton came under intense fire for her handling of the tragedy.

The panel’s top Republican, Trey Gowdy, and Democrat, Elijah Cummings, began shouting and interrupting each other over what information the committee should release while Clinton sat silently in the witness chair, watching the heated exchange and nodding her agreement with Cummings.

The Democratic presidential front-runner — who seemed collected and in command throughout the hearing — mounted a passionate defense of her response to the violence, telling the Republicans arrayed against her that she had agonized over the deaths of four Americans in Libya than anyone else on the panel.

“I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together,” she said. “I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done.”

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Source: Stephen Collinson, http://www.cnn.com