Mother of Benghazi Victim: Obama Administration Still Covering-Up Facts of Tragedy

On the eve of Wednesday’s Benghazi hearing, the mother of one of the four Americans killed during the Sept. 11, 2012 attack is charging that the Obama administration has engaged in an eight-month cover-up of the facts.

"They are covering it up because I haven’t heard any answers," Pat Smith told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

The mother of slain State Department Information Officer Sean Smith said she has appealed for answers to senior Obama administration officials, including then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

"I told every one of them personally nose to nose — just tell me what happened," she explained. "Whisper in my ear if it’s classified, and I won’t tell anybody. But at least it will put things to rest for me. But they won’t do that."

Smith said she was contacted by a "clerk" a couple of days after the incident, who read her an official timeline of the attack, but refused to provide additional details of her son's death.

The administration has insisted that Smith is not considered part of her son's immediate family.

"The only thing that they will tell me is I’m not a member of the immediate family," she said. "And I don’t understand that because I still remember the labor pains, which was quite a while ago."

Smith also reacted to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s statement in recent days that "Benghazi happened a long time ago," saying then "why don't they have answers by now?"

Sean Smith was a 10-year veteran of the Foreign Service who also had served in Iraq, South Africa, Canada, and the Netherlands. He also was an Air Force veteran with a wife, a son, and a daughter. In addition to him, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and two other Americans also were killed at Benghazi.

Smith’s mother blames the Obama administration — and Clinton in particular.

"Why don’t they have answers by now? They’ve had plenty of time to come up with something other than the things that they have not told me," she explained.

Smith, who plans to attend Wednesday’s hearing on Capitol Hill, said that the many unanswered questions have kept her awake at nights.

"I cry every night. I don’t sleep at night. I need answers," she said. "Why was there no security for him when they were supposed to have security and the security that they did have was called back? Things do not add up and I’m just told lies.'

Asked whether she believes the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission has been politicized, Smith responded "of course it’s political. That’s the way it’s been."

But she added, "Why don’t they just do their job? They didn’t do their job and now they’re hiding behind the word ‘political’ and going from there."

She blames Clinton because the attack happened on her watch at the State Department.
"She was in charge. Why couldn’t she do something about it? I blame her because that’s her department. She’s supposed to be on top of it," said Smith. "Who is running the place?"