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The father of a Muslim-American Army captain killed in Iraq offered a challenge to Donald Trump during a speech at the Democratic National Convention. Khizr Kahn's son, Humayun Khan, was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.
Donald Trump suggests the Clinton campaign<span style="color: Red;">*</span>may have written the searing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>speech for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a Muslim-American father who electrified<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Democratic National Convention this week by recalling the death of his Army son in Iraq and charging the GOP<span style="color: Red;">*</span>presidential<span style="color: Red;">*</span>nominee has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"sacrificed nothing" for his country.
In an interview with ABC News'<span style="color: Red;">*</span>George Stephanopolous released Saturday, Trump<span style="color: Red;">*</span>also speculated Khizr Khan's wife, who stood silently beside her husband on the podium,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"maybe wasn't allowed to have anything to say."
In his emotional speech<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Thursday night in Philadelphia, Khan, whose son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, 27, died in a suicide bombing in Baghdad 12 years ago, raised concerns that Trump's proposed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ban on Muslims entering the country would have prevented his late son from serving in the military.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Khans, originally from Pakistan, immigrated to the United States in the 1970s.
"Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery?" Khan asked Trump from the podium.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>you will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one."
Asked on ABC's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>This Week<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to respond, Trump appeared to brush aside Khan's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>comment, saying that the father<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“was, you know, very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me.”
“Who wrote that?" Trump continued, referring to Khan's six-minute remarks. "Did Hillary's script writers write it? I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard.”
Pressed by Stephanopoulos to name the sacrifices he’d made for his country, 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.”
But Trump had more to say about Khan's remarks.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In a statement released Saturday night, Trump called the fallen Muslim soldier<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a hero who died but said his father, Khizr Khan, has<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"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."
The real problem, he said, was the rise of radical Islam. He said Hillary Clinton played "a central role in destabilizing the Middle East," through her vote for the invasion of Iraq, her support of withdrawal of troops and the situation in Benghazi.
Trump also said in the ABC interview, “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.”
In a separate interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who also sought reaction on the Khan speech, replied: "I’d like to hear his wife say something."
Ghazala Khan, who appeared with her husband Friday evening on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>MSNBC's Last<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Word with Lawrence O'Donnell,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said she declined to speak at the convention because she was afraid of being overcome emotionally in talking<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about her son.
She also<span style="color: Red;">*</span>recalled her reaction when Humayun Khan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>first told her he was shipping off to Iraq: "Don't become (a)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hero for me. Just be my son. Come back as a son," she told him. "He came back as a hero."
In a statement Saturday, Clinton said she was "very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>support of her son<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on Thursday night.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>And I was very moved to hear<span style="color: Red;">*</span>her speak last night, bravely and with dignity, about her son's life<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country."
She added: "This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans, and with all<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the families whose children have died in service to our country.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>And<span style="color: Red;">*</span>this is a time to honor the sacrifice of Captain Khan and all the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fallen.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Captain Khan and his family represent the best of America,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and we salute them."
Khizr<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Khan, a lawyer with an advanced degree from Harvard Law School,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told The New York Times that he had no plans to campaign with Clinton nor had he been asked to. He said he was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>invited to speak at the convention by a campaign official who had read<span style="color: Red;">*</span>his remarks in an article published by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Vocativ in which he criticized Trump's statements on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Muslims<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as un-American.
He told the Times the initial<span style="color: Red;">*</span>plan was for the Khans to merely<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attend the convention<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and he was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>later<span style="color: Red;">*</span>asked if he wanted to "say a word or two."
After<span style="color: Red;">*</span>agreeing, Khan was asked by the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>campaign whether<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he needed speechwriting help or any coaching.
“I said: ‘I really don’t, I have my thoughts in my head,' ” he told the Times. “I won’t make it an hourlong speech, just let me say what I want to say. It will be heart-to-heart.”
Nothing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the speech,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he told the newspaper, came from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the campaign, including his dig at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Trump's lack of military service.
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