Federal judge drops lawsuit against Clinton over Benghazi

A federal judge in Washington D.C. on Friday tossed out a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton that alleged negligence in her email security was the cause of two Americans’ deaths in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, appointed by former President Obama in 2010, concluded that Clinton used her email in the course of her official duties and dismissed the wrongful death portion of the suit on technical grounds, according to a report by Politico. 

{mosads}Jackson also dismissed defamation claims made in the lawsuit.

“Secretary Clinton did not refer to plaintiffs as liars,” Jackson noted. “Plaintiffs may find the candidate’s statements in her own defense to be ‘unpleasant or offensive,’ but Secretary Clinton did not portray plaintiffs as ‘odious, infamous, or ridiculous….’ To the contrary, the statements portray plaintiffs as normal parents, grieving over the tragic loss of their loved ones.”

Patricia Smith and Charles Woods claimed in the suit that the attack that killed their sons, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods, as well as two other Americans, “was directly and proximately caused, at a minimum” by Clinton’s use of a private email server while in office.

“As a direct result of Defendant Clinton’s reckless handling of this classified, sensitive information, Islamic terrorists were able to obtain the whereabouts of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and thus the U.S. State Department and covert and other government operations in Benghazi, Libya and subsequently orchestrate, plan, and execute the now infamous September 11, 2012 attack,” according to the suit.

Both parents have been outspoken against Clinton.

Smith, who is a vocal supporter of GOP candidate Donald Trump, said during the Republican National Convention in July, “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son.”