Hillary Clinton Sued By Parents Of 2 Benghazi Victims

The parents of two of the four Americans killed in the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, have filed a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, calling the former secretary of state directly responsible for the deaths of their sons.

Patricia Smith and Charles Woods said that Clinton's private email server she used to conduct State Department business was compromised and led to the deaths of their sons. Their allegations include wrongful death, defamation and negligence.

"The deaths of Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods were directly and proximately caused by the negligent and reckless actions of Defendant Clinton," says the lawsuit, filed by attorney Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch USA, a conservative watchdog group.

Klayman sued Bill Clinton dozens of times when Clinton was president and has sued President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other liberal political figures.

Clinton is considered the heavy favorite to win the presidency in November's general election. Her critics during the campaign have frequently said her handling of the Benghazi attacks and her use of the email server make her unqualified for president.

In a statement, Clinton campaign spokesman said, "While no one can imagine the pain of the families of the brave Americans we lost at Benghazi, there have been nine different investigations into this attack and none found any evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton."

The parents are claiming defamation because Clinton has maintained that she never told the families the attack was caused by an anti-Islam video and not terrorism. Some families of the victims say she told them the video was responsible; other surviving families said Clinton never blamed the video.

"During her campaign for President, Defendant Clinton has negligently, recklessly, and/or maliciously defamed Plaintiffs by either directly calling them liars, or by strongly implying that they are liars, in order to protect and enhance her public image and intimidate and emotionally harm and silence them to not speak up about the Benghazi attack on at least four separate occasions," the lawsuit says.

In an interview with Fox News last Sunday, Clinton said the families' grief may have affected their memory of their meeting with her after the attacks.

“I understand the grief and the incredible sense of loss that can motivate that," she said. "As other members of families who’ve lost loved ones have said, that's not what they heard. I don't hold any ill feeling for someone who, in that moment, may not fully recall everything that was or wasn't said.”

While FBI Director James Comey called Clinton's use of her email server "reckless," he said that the FBI's yearlong investigation found no evidence that it had been hacked or compromised.

A report released in June following a two-year investigation led by House Republicans offered criticism toward Clinton, the Department of Defense and other top officials for inadequate security at the compound. But it placed no direct blame on Clinton for the attacks, which killed four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens.

After the much-anticipated report was released, Stevens' family said Clinton was not responsible for his death and that Stevens knew the risks he was taking working in Libya.

"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or (then-Secretary of Defense) Leon Panetta," Anne Stevens, the sister of Chris Stevens and de facto family spokesperson, told the New Yorker. "They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had."

Read the full lawsuit here.

Image via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons