--- description: The mother of an American who died at Benghazi criticized Hillary Clinton Monday night at the Republican convention. title: Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt867556312092e79e/69889c6ee20a871b28a91a35/pat_smith_benghazi.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Republican National Convention](/tag/republican-national-convention/) ## Republican National Convention Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim at the Republican Convention by [Will Drabold](/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 19, 2016 2:10 AM CUT  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](/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 19, 2016 2:10 AM CUT 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-/ "undefined") 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":"2026-02-22T23:20:54.119Z","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 topic","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. Scott Applewhite—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4412042/republican-convention-benghazi-mother-patricia-smith/","name":"Read the Speech From the Mother of a Benghazi Victim at the Republican Convention"}}]}] ```