Hillary Clinton and her allies can't stand the House Select Committee on Benghazi, charging that it's driven by political motives and a rehashing of previous investigations into the 2012 attack in Libya that left four Americans dead. Some even call it the Select Committee to Destroy Hillary Clinton.

Despite all the risks that come with hours of nationally televised questioning before a Republican-led congressional panel, the Democratic front-runner and her team are looking forward to Thursday's hearing as a key turning point that will help solidify the momentum she's built since last week's debate. 

To avoid further charges of political showboating following House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's comments on the committee, GOP members are expected to focus their early rounds of questioning on the attacks and to reference her controversial use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state as evidence, not as a separate line of inquiry and investigation. Georgia Representative Lynn Westmoreland, for instance, has vowed that his questions to Clinton "won't be about the server."