WASHINGTON (CN) — Political gadfly-attorney Larry Klayman sued Hillary Clinton on Monday, claiming the people who killed Americans at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi may have obtained their whereabouts by hacking into her private email server.
Klayman filed the wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Patricia Smith, the mother of Foreign Service officer Sean Smith; and Charles Woods, father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods. They died in the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
"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," the complaint states.
Klayman said in an interview that the allegation was bolstered by FBI Director James Comey, who testified to Congress on July 5 that though his investigators found no "direct evidence" that Clinton's email had been successfully hacked, her email practices were "extremely careless."
The State Department has said it will release another batch of Clinton's work-related emails, which Comey's investigation turned up among the 30,000 personal emails Clinton said she deleted.
Klayman claims in the lawsuit that it's "highly probable" that Secretary of State Clinton is to blame for Ambassador Stevens' death.
"It is highly probable, given defendant Clinton's history of reckless handling of classified information, that defendant Clinton, as secretary of state, sent and received information about Ambassador Christopher Stevens and thus the U.S. Department of State activities and covert operations that the deceased were a part of in Benghazi, Libya. This information was compromised from the second that it left defendant Clinton's private e-mail server and easily found its way to foreign powers including, but not limited to Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea," the complaint states.
Klayman cites a Politico article in the complaint that claims the last batch of Clinton emails the State Department released contained five emails from Russian-linked hackers. It is unclear if she opened attachments in the emails, which could have left her account and server vulnerable to hacking, Politico reported.
"If Hillary Clinton says they (the Russians) hacked the DNC, they obviously hacked her private email server. Iran also has very strong cyber-espionage capabilities," Klayman said in the interview, abbreviating the Democratic National Committee.
Klayman's clients, Smith and Woods, also accuse Clinton of defamation.
"During her campaign for president, Defendant Clinton has negligently, recklessly, and/or maliciously defamed plaintiffs by either directly calling them liars, or by strongly implying that they are liars, in order to protect and enhance her public image and intimidate and emotionally harm and silence them to not speak up about the Benghazi attack on at least four separate occasions," according to the complaint.
Clinton's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Klayman seeks punitive damages for his clients.
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