Donald Trump faced some serious backlash after insulting the Gold Star parents of a deceased Muslim-American, U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed by a car bomb in Iraq.
Khan’s parents, Ghazala (who remained silent due to her overwhelming grief) and Khizr Khan, stood side by side at the Democratic convention to address their son’s heroism and endorse Hillary Clinton. They also denounced Trump’s desire to ban Muslims from entering the United States. In response, Trump told George Stephanopoulos that Khizr — who questioned whether or not the presidential nominee has read the constitution — had “no right” to call him out. Ghazala followed up by penning an open letter to the Washington Post, while Khizr called Trump “void of decency, he has a dark heart.”
To attempt some semblance of damage control, Trump spokesperson Jason Miller went on CNN’s Reliable Sources to clarify the issue with Brian Stelter. Instead, Miller made the whole situation worse by completely side-stepping direct questions and insisting that Trump considered Capt. Khan “a war hero.” Unfortunately for Miller, Stelter pointed out Trump’s insults against the Khan family. This started off as a somewhat friendly exchange. Yet Miller began to look defeated as Stelter explained that Khan does, in fact, have constitutional rights to endorse one candidate over the other and question Trump’s credibility. In turn, Miller attempted to claim that this whole debacle is about “radical Islamist terrorism.” Stelter didn’t let him get away with this.