The mother of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, killed in the 2012 attack in Benghazi, called on Donald Trump and the GOP to stop using her son's name in his presidential campaign.
"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," Mary Commanday wrote in a short letter to the editor published in
The New York Times.
Trump has criticized Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, for how she handled the Benghazi attack.
Anne Stevens, a sister, told
NBC News that her brother knew the mission was understaffed but believed it was worth it. Using his death as a political point is "not appropriate," she said.
The attack was frequently mentioned in criticisms of Clinton during the Republican National Convention. Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, a foreign service worker who was killed in the attack, spoke at the convention, saying she blames Clinton for the death of her son,
ABC News noted.
CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty also were among the four men killed in the attack.
During an interview on
CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Clinton criticized the Republican party for blaming her for the deaths and politicizing the attack.
"There have been, I think now, nine separate investigations. And they did not find any such culpability. ... We had horrible losses in Beirut when Ronald Reagan was president, and one of my favorite, former predecessors, George Shultz, was secretary of state, we had a Democratic Congress. They didn't politicize it," Clinton said.
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