--- title: Republican Convention: Read Patricia Smith's Speech description: The mother of an American who died at Benghazi criticized Hillary Clinton Monday night at the Republican convention. canonical: https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-19T02:10:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:55.907Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim og:description: At the Republican national convention. og:url: https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867556312092e79e/69889c6ee20a871b28a91a35/pat_smith_benghazi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4050 og:image:height: 2278 og:image:alt: Pat Smith og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim twitter:description: At the Republican national convention. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867556312092e79e/69889c6ee20a871b28a91a35/pat_smith_benghazi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim at the Republican Convention > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 19, 2016 2:10 AM UTC  Pat Smith, mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith speaks during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016\. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Pat Smith, mother of Benghazi victim Sean Smith speaks during the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Monday, July 18, 2016\. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)J. Scott Applewhite—AP by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Jul 19, 2016 2:10 AM UTC In an emotionally raw speech, the mother of an American Foreign Service official killed in Benghazi [claimed that Hillary Clinton lied to her](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/18/checking-patricia-smiths-claims-about-clinton-and-/) and argued that Donald Trump would improve national security at the Republican convention Monday. “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son,” said Patricia Smith, whose son Sean was killed in the attack. “How could she do this to me? How could she do this to any American family? Donald Trump is everything Hillary Clinton is not.” Read Smith’s remarks in full below: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/"},"headline":"Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim at the Republican Convention","datePublished":"2016-07-19T02:10:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:55.907Z","description":"'I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son'","url":"https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","2016 Election","Benghazi","Libya"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867556312092e79e/69889c6ee20a871b28a91a35/pat_smith_benghazi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867556312092e79e/69889c6ee20a871b28a91a35/pat_smith_benghazi.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pat Smith","caption":"Pat Smith","creditText":"J. 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