El Trumpo appeared to compare his sacrifices to that of the father of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in combat, but has released a statement denying it:
The Trump for President campaign today released the full transcript of Donald J. Trump’s response to a pre-taped ABC This Week question from George Stephanopoulos referencing criticism from Khizr Khan.
As shown in the full transcript, Mr. Trump doesn’t compare his sacrifices to anybody else’s, and in fact praises Mr. Khan and wishes him well.
Mr. Trump also released a statement Saturday praising Mr. Khan’s son, Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed serving in Iraq:
“Captain Humayun Khan was a hero to our country and we should honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our country safe. 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. Given the state of the world today, we have to know everything about those looking to enter our country, and given the state of chaos in some of these countries, that is impossible. While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has 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. If I become President, I will make America safe again.
“Further, Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for her central role in destabilizing the Middle East. She voted to send the United States to war against Iraq, helped lead the disastrous withdrawal of American troops years later that created the vacuum allowing the rise of ISIS, and has never met a regime change she didn’t like (which have all been disasters) – not to mention her invasion of Libya and her abandonment of American personnel in Benghazi. The loss of these lives in Libya is directly traceable to Clinton, but their families’ testimonials were rejected by the media.
Clinton’s actions have been reckless and have directly led to the loss of American lives. And her extreme immigration policies, as also laid out by American victims in Cleveland, will cause the preventable deaths of countless more — while putting all residents, from all places, at greater risk of terrorism.
As Bernie Sanders said on numerous occasions, Hillary Clinton suffers from “bad judgement.” She is not qualified to serve as Commander in Chief.”– Donald J. Trump
As many pointed out, Khan didn’t actually, literally, accuse Trump of not having read the Constitution, he asked during his speech.
He also released a transcript of the interview where people were accusing him of comparing sacrifices – it really does look like he does so:
STEPHANOPOULOS:
How would you answer that father? What sacrifice have you made for your country?
TRUMP:
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 done, I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.
STEPHANOPOULOS:
Those are sacrifices?
TRUMP:
Oh, sure. I think they’re sacrifices. I think when I can employ thousands and thousands of people, take care of their education, take care of so many things, even in military. I mean, I was very responsible, along with a group of people, for getting the Vietnam Memorial built in downtown Manhattan, which to this day people thank me for.
I raised, and I have raised, millions of dollars for the vets. I’m helping the vets a lot. I think my popularity with the vets is through the roof, far greater than hers. She’s done nothing. All she’s done is tell everybody that the vets are in good shape. They’re fine. And they’re not fine. People are waiting on line for seven days to see a doctor. She thinks it’s fine.
I think the facts stand on Khan’s side, but the facts don’t matter anymore. Politics is just one big tribal bloodsport now. Enjoy!!
Here’s the video of Trump’s comments to Stephanopoulos.