Posted on May 7, 2013

Mother Of Slain Benghazi Victim Rips Hillary Clinton: "I Blame Her"

Pat Smith's son Sean Smith, a State Department information officer, was one of four Americans killed during the attack.





JAKE TAPPER: One woman still looking for answers is Pat Smith. Her son, State Department Information Officer Sean Smith was one of the four Americans killed. Pat, thanks so much for being here. I know this is not an easy time. How are you holding up?



PAT SMITH, MOTHER OF SEAN SMITH, KILLED IN BENGHAZI: Terrible. I cry every night. I don't sleep at night. I need answers.



TAPPER: What do you want answers to? What do you not know?



SMITH: Why was there no security for him? When they were supposed to have security and the security that they did have was called back. It just -- things do not add up and I'm just told lies.



TAPPER: Last week, you heard this in the piece the White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that Benghazi happened a long time ago.



SMITH: Yes, it did.



TAPPER: Eight months ago.



SMITH: Yes.



TAPPER: What is your reaction to that?



SMITH: Why don't they have answers by now? They've had plenty of time to come up with something other than the things they have not told me.



TAPPER: Are you concerned at all that the hearings and Benghazi that has become a political issue, the Republicans have turned it into a political issue. The Democrats have turned it into a political issue as opposed to being a scandal and a tragedy apart from politics?



SMITH: Of course, it's political. That's the way it's been. That's how they're treating it. That's what they're doing with it. They're making it into something that -- why don't they just do their job? They didn't do their job and now they're hiding behind the word political and going from there.



TAPPER: You have expressed disappointment in the past because President Obama, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, all of them came to you, talked to you.



SMITH: Yes.



TAPPER: And then you haven't heard from them. Have you heard from anybody in the Obama administration? Have you gotten any outreach or any answers at all?



SMITH: I got one telephone call from a clerk that was a couple days after it happened. He was reading to me from the time line, which I already had. And that was it. And since then, all they have told me is that I am not part of the immediate family so they don't want to tell me anything.



TAPPER: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified about the Benghazi tragedy shortly before she left office. I want to play a little bit of what she said.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: With all due respect, the fact is, we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



TAPPER: What was your reaction to that?



SMITH: Well, that's what I want to know. Why did it happen? And she is in charge. Why couldn't she do something about it? I blame her.



TAPPER: You blame Secretary of State Clinton.



SMITH: Yes.



TAPPER: Why?



SMITH: Because that's her department. She is supposed to be on top of it. Yet she claims she knows nothing. It wasn't told to her. Well, who is running the place?