"I appreciate his statement calling my son a hero and making this clarification and statement... But it sounds so disingenuous because of his policies, because of his rhetoric of hatred, of derision, of dividing us," Khan said. Khizr Khan calls Trump's statement on fallen son 'disingenuous'

The father of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq says Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's statement on his son's service is "disingenuous."

"I appreciate his statement calling my son a hero and making this clarification and statement. I appreciate that. But it sounds so disingenuous because of his policies, because of his rhetoric of hatred, of derision, of dividing us," Khizr Khan, whose son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, died in Iraq in 2004, said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."


"That is why I implored him to read the Constitution. Because that document, it wasn't just showing him the Constitution. I was pointing towards the values in that Constitution, enshrined foundation of this wonderful country and this nation," he added. "In another conversation, I asked and I appealed to the leadership of the Republican Party that they should disassociate themselves."

Khan stirred emotions with his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where he argued Trump had never sacrificed for his country and urged him to read the Constitution, holding up his personal copy.

Trump, in turn, argued he had sacrificed by creating private-sector jobs. The New York real estate mogul and entertainer released a statement Saturday night that called Humayun Khan "a hero to our country" but added, "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."

NBC host Chuck Todd pressed the father on a comment he made off-camera that Republicans had reached out to him following his convention speech. Khan responded that he'd "rather not disclose the names" but that "distinguished Republicans" had told him they would not support Trump in the election.

"Both of us, Mrs. Khan and I, have had such a pouring of love and affection and support from all ranks of this society," Khan said. "Several emails, these are distinguished Republicans, they say, all of their lives we have voted Republican. Not in this election."

"They said, 'You have touched our hearts. We've had these words and these thoughts and feelings in our hearts. But we want you to know that we will not vote Republican in this election,'" Khan added.