The National Rifle Association’s political action committee is set to air $2 million worth of advertising to promote a survivor of the Benghazi attacks in 2012 in efforts to hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The Republican House committee on Benghazi released its eighth report Tuesday providing no new information and the Chairman still couldn't prove Clinton lied. However, that hasn't stopped the NRA from launching one of the largest ad buys in the presidential race thus far to air on cable and broadcast channels in Colorado, Ohio, Nevada, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The 30-second ad is titled, “Stop Clinton, Vote Trump,” with Marine Corps veteran turn security contractor Mark Geist. He served on the ground fighting back during the attack on Benghazi.
“A lot of people say they’re not going to vote this November because their candidate didn’t win; Well, I know some people who won’t be voting this year either,” Geist says, walking through a cemetery. “Hillary as President? No thanks. I served in Benghazi. My friends didn’t make it. They did their part. Do yours.”
Geist co-authored 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi and endorsed Trump for president in February.
The ad announcement in USA Today comes just hours after the New Yorker published an interview with the sister of former Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in the Benghazi attacks.
"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or Leon Panetta," Dr. Anne Stevens said. "They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had," she continued alluding to the deep cuts Congress made to Embassy security since 2010.
In a press conference Tuesday following the House committee's final report, Clinton said, “no one has thought more about or lost more sleep over the lives that we lost, the four Americans, which was devastating." She further commented that she was the one who called for an independent investigation into the way the process worked on that night. She also noted improvements were implemented at the state department as a result of the investigations to ensure an attack like the one in Benghazi doesn’t happen again. “I think it's pretty clear it's time to move on."
Clinton's campaign reported a significantly higher financial haul in campaign donations than Trump's in June. Clinton's super PAC also reported $500 million cash on hand to Trump's $500,000. Republican pundits have taken to cable news, trying to assure other major Republican supporters concerned about Trump's low financial support that Trump is willing to write his own check to pay for his campaign. The RNC has also suggested it will be responsible for assisting with door knocking and work on the ground. The NRA's ad is expected to be one of many right-wing ads run against Clinton in the next five months.
You can watch the ad below:
