Turning out the vote with Benghazi
The National Rifle Association has targeted Hillary Clinton in battleground states with a new television advertisement that attacks Clinton’s handling of Benghazi.
The NRA’s political arm is putting $2 million behind the cable spot that features Mark Geist, a security contractor who co-wrote the book “13 Hours” about the September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya. In the ad, Geist says, “I served in Benghazi. My friends didn’t make it.” Geist tells viewers that even if they’re unhappy with their options, they need to do their part and vote to “Stop. Hillary. Now.” The ad ends with an NRA logo below “TRUMP 2016.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The ad comes a day after House Republicans released a report that found no new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton when she was Secretary of State. While Republicans heavily criticize Washington’s handling of the attack, which killed four Americans, repeated inquiries have not found that Clinton obstructed efforts to save prevent the loss of life. Republicans have criticized the State Department, and Clinton, for failing to increase security for the diplomatic mission before the attack.
The NRA says the ad will run nationwide with specific focuses in Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maine.
“We cannot trust Hillary Clinton with our gun rights or our national security,” said Chris W. Cox, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, in a statement. The NRA has publicly endorsed Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee.
Clinton has been opposed by the NRA for years, and in recent years she has become more aggressive in calling for new regulations of guns. Recently, she called semi-automatic rifles “weapons of war” in the wake of the shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
Glen Caplin, a spokesman for Clinton’s campaign, told TIME the ad ignores Democratic efforts to keep terrorists from buying guns and politicizes the deaths of Americans.
“The country would be a better and safer place if the gun lobby invested their resources in common sense measures to save lives instead of trying to save Donald Trump’s candidacy,” Caplin said.