PHILADELPHIA – The father of an American Muslim captain, who was killed in 2004, blasted Donald Trump Saturday for suggesting his wife was “not allowed” to speak during a powerful speech at this week’s Democratic National Convention.
“Running for president is not an entitlement to disrespect [a] Gold Star family and Gold Star mother, not realizing her pain,” Khizr Khan said in an interview on ABC News Saturday.
“Shame on him! Shame on his family!” Khan said. “He is not worthy of our comments. He has no decency. He is void of decency. He has a dark heart,” Khan said.
Humayun was a captain in the US Army. He was killed in Iraq in 2004 when a vehicle packed with explosives approached his camp, instructing his men to seek cover as he ran toward it.
The car exploded, killing Khan instantly. He was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously.
At the convention, Khizr Khan questioned whether Trump had read the US constitution, and said Trump has “sacrificed nothing and no one.” Trump has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the U.S.
In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Trump implied that Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, “wasn’t allowed to have anything to say” when she stood next to her husband at the convention.
“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me, but plenty of people have written that she was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say,” Trump said.
Responding to Trump, the grieving mother told told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Friday that she was anxious during her husband’s speech, knowing her son’s photo would appear behind her.
“Sacrifice — I don’t think he knows the meaning of the sacrifice, meaning of the word,” Ghazala Khan told ABC News on Saturday.
“Because when I was standing there all America felt my pain, without saying a single word. Everybody felt that pain, but I don’t know how he missed that.”
When asked about sacrifice, Trump said: “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”
Former Republican presidential candidate and current Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tweeted Saturday: “There’s only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect. Capt. Khan is a hero. Together, we should pray for his family.”
Hillary Clinton earlier Saturday released a statement supporting the Khans, and saying: “I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son.”
Bill Clinton, at a campaign event in Youngstown, Ohio, Saturday, praised the Khans and their son.
“That man proved that we are right in America not to have a religious test for who can be part of our country,” Bill Clinton said in an interview with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
“And his father was powerful and it must have taken everything that mother had to stand up there and go through it.”