During a stop in Wilmington, Burr was asked about Trump’s comments about Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Pakistani-born parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
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Khizr Khan, whose speech at the Democratic National Convention about his slain son has garnered admiration from Democrats and some Republicans, but ire from Donald Trump, says the candidate needs to have “patience and tolerance for criticism”.
Trump has responded by lashing out at Khan and suggesting that Khans’ remarks were actually prepared by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents”.
“To go and see this captain that had sacrificed so much, it was really moving”, she said.
On CNN, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who has been trying to hold together a party increasingly divided by Trump’s outbursts, said Trump had a right to defend himself. “What we can do is support them and honor their sacrifice by doing everything we can, every day, to make our communities stronger and our nation better so that we may be a people worthy of their sacrifices”.
McCain, whose heroism as a former prisoner of war Trump once put down, stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of the Republican nominee, but said he could not “emphasize enough how strongly I disagree with his statement”. Said his wife: “My religion or my family or my culture never stopped me from saying what I want to say”.
Late Monday, some Gold Star families called on Trump to apologize to the Khans.
Before Rubio’s comments were circulated to members of the media, Democratic challenger Rep. Patrick Murphy said Rubio would show he “does not have the courage” to be a senator if he does not step back from supporting Trump. Trump on Sunday tweeted that Khan’s son had died 12 years ago: “Captain Khan, killed 12 years ago, was a hero, but this is about RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the weakness of our “leaders” to eradicate it!”
All of them except Toomey have backed Trump, and so far, none of them have rescinded their endorsements.
Democrats have been quick to seize on the comments as evidence Trump is ill suited to be commander in chief. I am a Gold Star mother.
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“In his eyes, he thinks that he can criticize people but no one else can criticize” him, Khan told PBS NewsHour co-anchor Judy Woodruff in a joint interview with his wife, Ghazala Khan.
