Mother of slain ambassador to Benghazi calls out Trump: ‘Stop the opportunistic and cynical use of my son’s name’

The mother of Chris Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya who was killed during the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, is calling on Donald Trump’s campaign – and the Republican party in general — to stop using her son’s name for political gain.

Mary F. Commanday, who lives in Oakland, California, published a short and to-the-point op-ed in the New York Times this Friday lamenting the “opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign” of her son’s name.

“As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’s mother, I am writing to object to any mention of his name and death in Benghazi, Libya, by Donald Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party,” Commanday wrote. “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.”

Commanday’s op-ed comes in the wake of the Republican National Convention, where the deadly attack on Americans in Benghazi took center stage, with speakers and attendees using the attack as a launching point to call for the imprisonment, and even execution of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. On the opening night of the convention, the mother of a foreign service worker who was also killed in the attack held Clinton directly responsible.

“For all of this loss, for all of this grief, for all of the cynicism, the tragedy in Benghazi has brought on America, I blame Hillary Clinton,” Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, told the crowd at the RNC. “I blame Hillary Clinton for the death of my son, personally.”

As ABC News points out, Trump has repeatedly referred to the attack during his campaign, even tweeting directly about Stevens’ family:

If you want to know about Hillary Clinton's honesty & judgment, ask the family of Ambassador Stevens.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2016

Exactly how this will affect Trump and Co.’s Benghazi rhetoric is yet to be seen.

You can watch Patricia Smith’s RNC speech in the video below: