Donald Trump has responded to criticism from the father of Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim soldier killed in Iraq.
In an impassioned speech at this week’s Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan said Donald Trump had sacrificed “nothing and no-one” for his country.
The Republican nominee said he had made “a lot of sacrifices” by creating jobs.
However, he drew more controversy by mocking Khizr Khan’s wife, who had stood silently by her husband’s side as he spoke.
In an interview with ABC’s This Week, Donald Trump said: “If you look at his wife, she was standing there.
“She had nothing to say… Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”
Ghazala Khan said on July 29 that she did not speak because she was still overcome with grief and could not look at her son’s photos without crying.
Quoted by AP, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine said Donald Trump’s remarks were inappropriate: “He was kind of trying to turn that into some kind of ridicule.
“It just demonstrates again kind of a temperamental unfitness. If you don’t have any more sense of empathy than that, then I’m not sure you can learn it.”
Donald Trump’s campaign issued a statement on July 30 in which he praised Humayun Khan: “Captain Humayun Khan was a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe.
“The real problem here are the radical Islamic terrorists who killed him, and the efforts of these radicals to enter our country to do us further harm.”
Donald Trump rejected Khizr Khan’s criticism.
“While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan, who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things,” he said.
In the ABC interview to be broadcast on July 31, a transcript of which was released by the Trump campaign, the New York billionaire was asked what sacrifices he had made.
“I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures,” Donald Trump said.
“…I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”
Khizr Khan, 65, told a rapturous crowd on July 28, the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, that his son had sacrificed his life to save those of his fellow soldiers.
Captain Humayun Khan was killed by a car bomb in 2004 at the age of 27.
If it had been up to Donald Trump, Khizr Khan said, his son would not have been in America.
Khizr Khan asked if Donald Trump had “even read the United States Constitution”, and offered to lend him his copy.
