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Hillary heckled during Buffalo speech; Soros backs bid to draft her for presidential run

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was heckled while speaking to a large crowd at an upstate New York university on Wednesday.

Clinton was giving remarks at the University of Buffalo when an unidentified man began yelling about the September 2012 terror attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The man shouted, "Benghazi! Benghazi! You let them die!"according to WIVB, a local station in Buffalo.

Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed during an attack on the diplomatic post in Libya's second-largest city on Sept. 11, 2012. 

In the wake of the attack, Republicans leveled an array of accusations at the then-Secretary of State Clinton and the White House, including that the Obama administration failed to dispatch the military to help, waited too long to consistently describe the raid as a terror attack, and extensively edited talking points for media appearances.

Clinton did not halt her speech but instead pivoted to the subject of civil discourse, apparently referencing the heckler.

"We have to be willing to come together as citizens to focus on the kind of future we want, which doesn't include yelling. It includes sitting down and talking with one another," she said, drawing an enthusiastic round of applause and cheers.

The unidentified heckler was taken out of the auditorium by security guards. 

Related: Clinton: I'll 'seriously' consider White House bid 'sometime next year'

Meanwhile, Clinton received some good news Thursday: George Soros, the billionaire financier and well-known advocate of liberal and progressive causes, said he will back an effort to convince Clinton for run for president in 2016, a spokesman told Reuters.

"His support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his long-held belief in the power of grassroots organizing," said Soros spokesman Michael Vachon. 

Soros, 83, has committed $25,000 to the political action committee Ready for Hillary, the most prominent independent voting group backing a possible Clinton bid for the highest office in the land.

The former First Lady would be widely considered the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination if she decides to throw her hat in the ring, many political observers say.

Reuters contributed to this report.