Trump feud with parents of slain soldier enters fourth day The GOP nominee's comments draw a scathing disavowal from Republicans, including John McCain.

Donald Trump’s fiery war of words with the parents of a Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004 escalated into its fourth day Monday, hours after his own campaign sought to stamp out the smoldering embers of the Republican nominee’s latest media conflagration.

Even after his running mate put out a statement declaring fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan a hero, and even as Republicans lined up to rebuke their own nominee for his exchange of barbs with Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Trump did not budge.


Trump’s bombastic rhetoric is “proof of his ignorance and arrogance,” Khan said on CNN, one of many interviews the Pakistani-American immigrant gave days after delivering a spellbinding speech before the Democratic National Convention last week.

Trump launched a fresh Twitter barrage in return, tweeting, that Khan “viciously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over T.V. doing the same - Nice!"

The tweet came less than 10 hours after the Trump campaign issued a statement through vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, who said that both the Indiana governor and Trump “believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American.”

Khan offered a warmer reception to that statement, which attempted to shift the topic away from the Khans’ fallen son and onto terrorism and immigration. Khan said he was “heartened” and “grateful” for the kind words Pence offered to his son and seemed to agree with the GOP ticket’s assertion of a need for stronger immigration controls.

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday, Trump also asked whether Ghazala Khan, who stood at her husband’s side during his address, was “allowed to have anything to say.”

Ghazala Khan fired back at that suggestion about Muslim women, which drew a wider rebuke Monday as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and other U.S. Muslim groups pushed a social media initiative with the hashtag “#CanYouHearUsNow.”

The families of 17 additional fallen service members on Monday released a letter they are sending to Trump through the left-leaning VoteVets Action Fund, calling on him to apologize to the Khans, all Gold Star families, “and to all Americans for your offensive, and frankly anti-American, comments.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars ripped into Trump's remarks, particularly concerning Ghazala Khan. “There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed,” VFW National Commander Brian Duffy said in a statement. “Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.”

Trump’s initial comments also drew a scathing disavowal from Arizona senator and former POW John McCain, who released a lengthy statement Monday morning excoriating the Republican nominee for squabbling with a Gold Star family.

“I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates," McCain said in his statement. "I’d like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America. We’re a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation – and he will never be forgotten."

McCain has endorsed Trump, but his statement seemed to offer an escape hatch under the rationale that the Republican nomination "is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us."

Another Republican up for reelection in November, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, joined McCain in criticizing Trump's attack against the Khans.

"I remember how much I worried about my son Matt during his years of active duty. The Khans have made the greatest possible sacrifice for our country; they deserve to be heard and respected," Blunt said, in reference to his son, the governor of Missouri from 2005-2009. "My advice to Donald Trump has been and will continue to be to focus on jobs and national security and stop responding to every criticism -- whether it's from a grieving family or Hillary Clinton."

While reiterating his support for Trump, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn indicated that the Republican nominee would do well to talk about something else.

“What he should’ve done, honestly he should’ve just said ‘hey you know who killed that captain was probably an Al Qaeda or a member of Al Qaeda with an improvised explosive device’ and kind of moved off of it,” Flynn told the radio show “Kilmeade & Friends,” adding, “the issues that are in play are vast, deep, and dangerous for this country and those are the issues that Donald Trump needs to stick to."

The critical statements from Republicans came as Khan, once again appearing with his wife at his side, laced into Trump in multiple TV interviews as unfit not just for the presidency, but for even the nomination of one of America’s two major political parties. He said he felt compelled to speak out last week in Philadelphia because “we had been patiently subjected to the maligning of this candidate for a whole year. Enough is enough.”

Outside of Trump, Khan was overall complimentary of the Republican Party, which he described as equally patriotic as the Democratic Party. The problem, Khan said, is that while many in the GOP have been quietly critical of their party’s nominee, very few Republican leaders who might be in a position to influence Trump have been publicly critical of his comments.

Without providing any further detail, Khan said he was aware that House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had been among those who have privately urged Trump to tone down his anti-Muslim rhetoric. Both men issued statements over the weekend embracing the Khans, but neither mentioned Trump explicitly.

On Monday morning, Khan called for them to go further.

“Every decent Republican has said — I apologize if I'm a little emotional about this — every Republican has rebuked his behavior, yet no one has stood up and said, enough, stop it, you will not be our candidate. In private they have done this. We are aware of it, that in private they have done this,” Khan said. “We will continue to speak up until this candidate behaves in a dignified manner deserving of the candidacy of this office.”

Minutes later on CNN, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski defended Trump's decision to go after Khan in the days following his convention speech. In a heated exchange, Lewandowski noted his former boss's praise of Khan's fallen son, but argued that by delivering a convention speech, he had automatically opened himself to political criticism.

"Look, he said Capt. Khan is a hero. The difference is, if Donald Trump were the president, Capt. Khan would still be alive today because we never would have entered the Iraq war in the first place," Lewandowski said. "What he said was that this is something the Khan family decided to engage in by going to the Democratic convention and telling their story. They're welcome to do that. But Mr. Trump has the ability to respond."

Sam Clovis, the co-chair of Trump's campaign, argued on CNN that "the Khans had absolutely no idea of the consequences of the speech when they politicized this issue."

In response, Clinton campaign pollster and senior strategist Joel Benenson said the Khan family "felt compelled to speak out" by the anti-Muslim tone of Trump's campaign.

"I think for people of the Muslim faith, who have heard Mr. Trump's attacks on Muslims throughout the campaign, I think it's not surprising that some of them want to speak out," Benenson said in a TV interview. "For Mr. Trump or Mr. Clovis to try to turn into victims and say the Khans are politicizing this, I think that's unfair. I think what's has been going on is the divisive thing that has made people quite repelled by Mr. Trump."

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, speaking later to MSNBC, called Trump's comments on the Khans "really despicable" while Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine warned that the remarks represented the “major erosion” of the country’s religious values.

The Khans also appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where Khizr Khan remarked that there has been a “line of people” paying their respects to their son “every place we step in.”

That experience, Khizr Khan explained, “has humbled us, it has made us even more grateful, and it has affirmed the belief that we had 30 years ago and it affirms that we made the right decision, that we made the right decision, we are in the right place and we have an obligation to keep it safe and move it forward.”

Khan first stepped into the public eye on the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention, delivering an impassioned speech with his wife at his side. He honored the memory of his son, who was killed in 2004 by an improvised explosive device in Baghdad. But he also accused Trump of never having read the Constitution, offering to lend him the version of the document that Khan pulled from his jacket pocket on stage.

Trump seemed to take particular offense to the charge that he had never read the Constitution, firing back at Khan that the fallen soldier’s father had “no right” to go on stage and make such an accusation on national television. Asked about Trump’s retort, Khan said it once again proved that the Republican nominee lacks an understanding of the basic tenets of America’s governing principles.

“He wants to have one set of rights for himself, and he wants to have another set of rights for others,” Khan said, reaching once again into his jacket for his pocket copy of the Constitution. “No, somebody should tell him that there is equal dignity, equal protection of law in this country. That is why that constitution came to play. I keep that in my pocket because I cherish this document. I wish somebody would read it to him. Certain fundamental values [are enshrined] in this document.”

“As far as the policy and tightening the policy, that is what we need. We already have those measures in place. Can we make them better? Of course we can make them better,” Khan said. “Are there better solutions? Of course there are better solutions. Let's go and implement them. Let's make those policies and implement them. But let's not create, strengthen the hands of enemies by these remarks, by these statements. Believe me, these statements strengthen their recruitment process.”

Those sentiments, Khizr Khan remarked Monday on MSNBC, are “common” and not exclusive to their family.

“Yet there is, there had been some statements coming from Republican leadership, but there is amazing silence, silence of rebuke, silence of asking no more,” Khan said. “The good Republicans are sending me the emails, voicemails, saying that, ‘We want to say, but we haven’t said, but no more.’”

Nahal Toosi contributed reporting.