As backlash mounted against Donald Trump Monday regarding his comments towards the parents of a fallen Muslim Army captain, Arizona Republicans were split when it came to supporting the presidential nominee.
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Over the weekend Donald Trump was part of a odd media stand-off with the parents of an American soldier who was killed in Iraq.
Donald Trump said had he been president at the time, Khizr Khan’s son – the U.S. Army officer who was killed in Iraq by a suicide bomber – would have still been alive.
On the last night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, Gold Star father Khizr Khan, his wife Ghazala by his side, recounted to the crowd how his son was killed in 2004 by a vehicle bomb in Iraq.
“Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression”, said Brian Duffy, VFW president.
“If you look at his wife, she was standing there”.
Appearing Monday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity”, said he was “fine” with Khan’s criticism, adding, “I guess it’s part of my life”. I was in pain. “You did not serve”, Khan said. I’m not a fighter. “I am just amazed”, he said.
In an open letter, 23 families who have lost their sons in war, known as “Gold Star” families, described Trump as cheapening their sacrifice and called for him to apologise.
“Mr. Khan, who does not know me, viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same – Nice!”
“I was the first one in our caucus to say I couldn’t vote for either one of them”, Hanna told Syracuse.com in an interview referring to Trump and Ted Cruz. “And as I have long made clear, I agree with the Khans and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values”, McConnell wrote in a statement.
However prominent Republicans, including Tennessee U.S Rep. Phil Roe said Trump’s comments were wrong.
Malik says he relates to the Khan family’s immigrant story and would be proud if his own son followed Captain Khan’s example and joined the armed forces.
In a now famous moment during that speech, Khizr Khan held up a pocket version of the USA constitution and asked Trump if he had ever read it.
“In Islam, women are very strong and we are equal to our men”, she told Global News Washington Bureau Chief Jackson Proskow.
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On the “Today” show, Khizr Khan said he was grateful for all the support his family is receiving.
