In finding that Clinton appropriately used her email accounts in the course of her official duty, US Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson dismissed a lawsuit accusing the former Democratic presidential nominee of criminal negligence. The lawsuit claimed that her email security protocols brought about the deaths of two Americans in a September 2012 terrorist attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, according to The Hill.
Judge Jackson, appointed by former US President Barack Obama in 2010, dismissed the lawsuit, finding that Clinton had used her email account appropriately, and was not responsible for the deaths of the Americans.
In the Friday ruling the judge also threw out defamation claims included in the charges.
"Secretary Clinton did not refer to plaintiffs as liars," Jackson observed, cited by The Hill.
"Plaintiffs may find the candidate's statements in her own defense to be 'unpleasant or offensive,' but Secretary Clinton did not portray plaintiffs as 'odious, infamous, or ridiculous…'" the judge wrote, adding, "To the contrary, the statements portray plaintiffs as normal parents, grieving over the tragic loss of their loved ones."
The litigants, Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, in their lawsuit had accused Clinton of being responsible for the Benghazi attack that killed their sons and two other US citizens, stating that the killings were "directly and proximately caused, at a minimum" due to the former top US diplomat's use of a private email server.
Both parents are outspoken supporters of US President Donald Trump, with Smith quoted at the July 2016 Republican National Convention as saying: "I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son."
