A chorus of Republicans has disavowed Trump’s criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan and the Republican nominee’s calls to temporarily ban Muslims from coming to the U.S. But Obama argued that isn’t enough.
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The father of the slain Muslim US soldier at the centre of a controversial feud with Donald Trump said on Monday he had no desire to escalate the conflict and that it’s time to “join hands with good Muslims”, even as the Republican presidential candidate attacked him again on Twitter.
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, Monday in a written statement strongly condemned Trump’s statement about the Khan family.
Trump didn’t raise the controversy during a rally Monday in Ohio. Below, we answer those, and more.
McCain responded with a lengthy denunciation in which he said Trump does not have “unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us”. “He was a war hero because he was captured”.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama joined the fray later on Monday, implicitly rebuking Trump for his comments, while his party member Senator John McCain condemned businessman-turned-politician’s remarks and urged the GOP nominee to “set an example for the United States”.
Vaughn said she and other families in the Florida meeting sympathize with Khan, but also feel the ensuing media coverage has overshadowed more important issues for their community. “And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this handsome country”. “The comments about Mrs. Khan because she didn’t speak on stage, that seemed very cruel”, she said.
She followed this up with an op-ed in the Washington Post Sunday.
Obama told the veterans group, “I’m pretty exhausted of some folks trash talking America’s military and troops”.
Khan is a lawyer. “He denigrates our services, he denigrates our families”. When her husband asked if she wanted to speak at the convention, she said she could not.
In an interview on ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Trump responded by saying, “Who wrote that? I’m very glad to be in this country”.
After Khizir Khan, who lost his son in a suicide bombing in Iraq, declared at last week’s Democratic National Convention that Trump had “sacrificed nothing”, the Republican nominee claimed he’d been “viciously attacked” and questioned why Khan’s wife Ghazala didn’t make her own remarks. “She had nothing to say”.
The dustup marked a significant crack in the hard alliance between Trump and the Republican establishment and raised the question of whether any GOP office holders who have endorsed the billionaire would rescind their support.
And bringing up Ayotte: “I don’t know Kelly Ayotte”.
Rivera: So Donald Trump was wrong to say something like that? It was because she was still grieving her son. That’s why when I saw the picture at my back I couldn’t take it, and I controlled myself at that time. Did Hillary’s [Clinton] scriptwriters write it?
However, getting other S.C. GOP officeholders on the record to critique their party’s presidential nominee required some convincing, even as Trump lashed out against the Khans on Twitter and in interviews. He recently said on Facebook that the RNC, which he attended, was “long on politics and short on substance” and “unlike any I have ever witnessed”. Trump criticized Khan and questioned why his wife didn’t say anything during the speech, CNN reported.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars said it won’t tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right to free speech.
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The term comes from World War I, when a banner was flown by families who had a member serving in the war. Neiberger-Miller said the one positive thing to come out of this may be that Americans are learning more about Gold Star families.
