Donald Trump showed "total ignorance" when he attacked the mother of a Gold Star family for not speaking at the Democratic National Convention, her husband said in slamming the Republican nominee Wednesday.
"Total ignorance of the culture," Khizr Khan told Jake Tapper on CNN. "Total ignorance of the grief of a Gold Star mother.
"Time after time, then, before then, and up until now, Donald Trump has proven that he has neither the capacity, nor the capability, nor the character or the temperament for the office — the highest office of this country that he seeks.
"We were disappointed," Khan said.
In Philadelphia in August, Khan ripped Trump for his plan to ban Muslims. As he spoke, his wife, Ghazala Khan, stood by silently.
Trump said in a subsequent interview Ghazala Khan "was standing there."
"She had nothing to say," he added. "She probably — maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."
The Khans' son, Humayun Khan, 27, of Bristow, Va., was killed by a car bomb in Iraq in 2004. He was awarded the Purple Heart and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Khizr Khan appears in a campaign ad for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and has spoken at several rallies on her behalf.
He told Tapper his wife did not speak because of the grief surrounding her son's death.
"Mrs. Khan had spoken since then at many occasions," he said. "She is very capable.
"But that very moment, she was under such a grief because our son's picture was in the background.
"She was totally unable to speak, maintaining the dignity of the occasion, she insisted that she not speak, otherwise she will fall apart at the stage.
"We had agreed that she will not speak," Khan said. "But since then, she has spoken."
The entire episode led Trump to show "his true colors," he said.
"Donald Trump has shown his incapacity, his lack of caliber, lack of temperament — and so we are disappointed that a person of these characters is seeking the highest office of this country."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.