Mother Of Benghazi Victim Doesn't Want Trump Using Her Son's Name

She calls it a "cynical use."
Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx

The mother of the U.S. ambassador killed in a 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, has had enough of Donald Trump evoking her son’s memory.

Mary Commanday, the mother of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times on Friday in an attempt to stop Trump and the Republican Party from mentioning her family:

As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’s mother, I am writing to object to any mention of his name and death in Benghazi, Libya, by Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party.

I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection. I hope that there will be an immediate and permanent stop to this opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign.

Former U.S. ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens gives a speech on Aug. 26, 2012, at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Stevens was killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi.
Former U.S. ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens gives a speech on Aug. 26, 2012, at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli. Stevens was killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi.
MAHMUD TURKIA via Getty Images

Four Americans died in the attack on the temporary, unofficial U.S. compound, The Washington Post notes. Conservatives have attempted to blame Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, for the incident over lack of security at the facility.

A two-year, GOP-led investigation proved no evidence of wrongdoing on Clinton’s part, but multiple people alluded to Benghazi during the Republican National Convention last week. Pat Smith, the mother of information officer Sean Smith, who was killed in the attack, said during her convention speech that she blames Clinton personally for her son’s death and thinks the presumptive Democratic nominee should be in jail.

Trump referenced Stevens when he spoke on Thursday night. “Libya is in ruins, and our Ambassador and his staff were left helpless to die at the hands of savage killers,” he said.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.

Before You Go

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney

Republicans Who Have Refused To Back Donald Trump

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot