Congressional hearings have a high-stakes history — here's how 9 dramatic ones played out

Thomson Reuters

WASHINGTON (AP) — This city knows how to do big hearings — even Titanic ones (literally).

Dramatic congressional hearings are something of a Washington art form, a rite of democracy carefully crafted for the cameras.

Suspense is building as fired FBI Director James Comey prepares to claim the microphone Thursday in an austere, modern hearing room of the Hart Senate Office Building. He is to testify about his dealings with President Donald Trump and the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections with Russia.

Here's a look at past high-drama hearings:

Benghazi

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's marathon grilling before the House Select Committee on Benghazi in October 2015 was her moment — an extremely long moment — to push back against critics' suggestions that her State Department failed to protect U.S. diplomats in Libya before the 2012 attack that killed four Americans.

In 11 hours of sometimes testy testimony, Clinton, by then front-runner for the Democratic presidential candidate, said it was "deeply unfortunate" that the Benghazi attacks were being "used for political purposes." Asked how it felt to be accused of contributing to the deaths of four Americans, she said softly, "I imagine I've thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I've lost more sleep than all of you put together."

Clarence Thomas confirmation

The 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas will forever be remembered for the lurid accusations of sexual harassment leveled by a young former subordinate, Anita Hill. From the witness table, Hill described what she said were Thomas' unwanted sexual advances toward her.

Both Thomas and Hill withstood withering and painfully detailed questions from members of the all-male Judiciary Committee. He described the hearings as a "high-tech lynching." She later said senators should apologize for "their malicious indictment of me."

Iran-Contra

When Marine Lt. Colonel Oliver North, his chest brimming with medals, stood and raised his right hand to be sworn in at a 1987 Senate hearing, it became the enduring image from the Iran-Contra scandal, a covert arms-for-hostages overture to Iran.

In six days of testimony before a Senate panel, North commanded the spotlight as he insisted his superiors had authorized all of his actions. "I came here to tell the truth, the good, the bad and the ugly," he said. "I am here to tell it all."

A jury later found North guilty of three felonies, but an appeals court reversed his convictions, finding the case relied too much on testimony he gave to Congress under an immunity deal.