Tim Kaine Talks About a Subject Hillary Clinton Rarely Mentions: Benghazi

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- While Hillary Clinton shies away from referencing Benghazi on the campaign trail, her running mate seems less hesitant to do so.

For the second time in two days, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine brought up today the deadly 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya, referencing an incident that Republicans have tried to use to harm Clinton’s White House hopes.

At rallies in both Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Fayetteville, North Carolina, Kaine has contrasted the way Clinton reacted to families of Benghazi victims speaking at the Republican National Convention last month with the way GOP nominee Donald Trump reacted to the family of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan speaking at the Democratic National Convention.

Khizr Khan was critical of Trump and questioned if he’d ever read the Constitution.

At the Republican National Convention, a mother of a Benghazi victim blamed Clinton for her son’s death. The 2012 attack on the consulate in Libya left four people dead, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Clinton was secretary of state at the time.

“Trump was mad because the Khan family said some negative things about him. In the Republican Convention in Cleveland, they just put up one speaker after the next to trash Hillary Clinton. And they put up parents and family members of people who have lost their lives on the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya,” Kaine said today in Cedar Rapids. “Whatever we think about what they said, our hearts have to go out to them. Obviously, some wonderful public servants lost their lives. They said some negative things about Hillary.”

Kaine told the crowd that Clinton “feels Benghazi very personally because Chris Stevens, the ambassador, is someone she knew very, very well.”

The Virginia senator compared the incident in Benghazi to instances where American life was lost abroad under other presidential administrations.

“Every president has suffered through instances like this because it’s a big, bad dangerous world out there and Americans who serve abroad whether it’s Marines or State Department personnel in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Reagan [administration] or people on the USS Cole during the Bush [administration],” Kaine said.

Kaine described Trump as unfit for the White House, saying he “shouldn’t be within ten time zones of being commander in chief."

He said that Clinton would never go after someone who criticized her, contrasting her with Trump.

“Hillary is classier than that, Hillary is smarter than that, Hillary is more compassionate than that, Hillary has better judgment than that,” Kaine said.