17 months and $4.5-million. That’s how long — and costly — the Republican-led probe of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s role in the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The congressional committee will hear from her once again on Thursday. Critics say the hearings are simply a witch hunt against Clinton, who is now running for president as a Democrat. She is expected to be grilled about her assessment of the security needed for the high-risk mission, along with questions of transparency about exactly what happened and, of course, all those emails she wrote during her post on a private server in her home. Republicans say they want honest answers to their pertinent questions. Democrats see it as an opportunity to pile on Clinton, and hope she will come across as the victim of an overly-politicized panel intent on tarnishing her.