Mother of Benghazi victim: ‘I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son’
CLEVELAND — Pat Smith, the mother of a State Department IT consultant who died in Benghazi, said at the Republican National Convention on Monday that she personally blames Hillary Clinton for the death of her son, Sean.
“I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son,” Smith said. “Personally.”
She also said she was lied to by Clinton, the former secretary of state and presumptive Democratic nominee. She said Clinton told her and other family members of the four Americans who died in the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi that the deaths were a result of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic video, instead of a planned attack.
“How could she do this to me? How could she do to this to any American family?” Smith asked, as some Republican delegates wiped tears away from their eyes. She praised Trump for being “everything that Hillary Clinton is not.”
“Hillary for prison,” she concluded her speech. “She deserves to be in stripes!”
Smith was followed by Mark Geist and John Tiegen, two security contractors who fought in Benghazi and have accused Clinton of mishandling the situation.
After Smith’s remarks, the Clinton campaign sent out a statement saying that the House’s Republican-led Benghazi investigation was a “purely partisan exercise” that “found no wrongdoing” by Clinton.
In a March primary debate, Clinton said Smith’s claim that she lied was “absolutely wrong.”