Republicans will kick off the first night of their convention in Cleveland by focusing on one of the biggest blights on Hillary Clinton’s diplomatic record: Benghazi.
Three prime-time speaking slots will be filled by survivors of the 2012 terror attack as well as the mother of Sean Smith, one of the four Americans who were killed in the violence.
Other military veterans and advocates will take the stage Monday to attack Clinton on her handling of Benghazi as well as the Obama administration’s larger failure to tame terrorism around the world.
Just weeks after the House Select Committee on Benghazi delivered their highly-anticipated final report, Republicans will likely use its findings to argue Clinton demonstrated poor judgement when she failed to rescue the Americans imperiled in the Libyan city and subsequently blamed the raid on a YouTube clip.
Documents and testimony uncovered by the select committee suggested Clinton knew within hours of the attack that the raid was planned and executed by members of Ansar al-Sharia, a terrorist group based in Libya.
Clinton has used the release of the Benghazi report to argue “it’s time to move on” from intrigue over how the administration spun the attack.
The events in Benghazi scrambled the 2012 presidential race when they came just 56 days before voters headed to the polls to re-elect President Obama.
But Republicans appear determined to keep Benghazi alive for the 2016 race as well.
Speakers at the first night of the Republican convention include Marcus Luttrell, a former Navy SEAL who inspired the film “Lone Survivor,” Karen Vaughn, mother of a Navy SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, the first female combat veteran to be elected to the Senate.
