McCain lashes out at Trump over row with Khan family

Republican senator John McCain has condemned Donald Trump’s comments about the parents of a US Muslim soldier who was killed in Iraq.

“I cannot emphasize how deeply I disagree with Mr Trump’s statement,” McCain, the GOP presidential nominee in 2008, said. “I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican party, its officers, or candidate.”

He thanked the Khan family for immigrating to the US, adding that “we’re a better country because of you”.

Army captain Humayun Khan died in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2004. Last Thursday, his father Khizr and his wife Ghazala appeared at the Democratic national convention to speak about their opposition to Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration.

In an emotional speech, Khizr Khan said that his son would not even have been in America if it had been up to Trump.

However, Trump later told ABC’s This Week that Ghazala Khan may not have been allowed to speak.

“She had nothing to say…Maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.”

Khan retorted in an opinion piece for the Washington Post that she was too upset to speak at the convention.

“Walking on to the convention stage, with a huge picture of my son behind me, I could hardly control myself. What mother could? Donald Trump has children whom he loves. Does he really need to wonder why I did not speak?” she wrote.

Family members of 11 service-members killed in action wrote to Trump on Monday, expressing dismay at his treatment of the family of Humayun Khan, and demanding an apology.

"When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us. When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice," their letter said.

"This goes beyond politics. It is about a sense of decency. That kind decency you mock as 'political correctness'.”

Trump's running mate, Governor Mike Pence, issued a statement on Sunday saying both he and Trump believed Captain Khan was an American hero.

However, Trump took to Twitter on Monday to criticise the Khans for appearing on television, adding that the story was not about Khizr Khan, but about “radical Islamic terrorism” and the US.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attacked her rival’s treatment of the Khans during a campaign stop at a church in Cleveland, Ohio.

"Mr. Khan paid the ultimate sacrifice in his family, didn't he?" she told the African American congregation. "And what has he heard from Donald Trump? Nothing but insults, degrading comments about Muslims, a total misunderstanding of what made our country great - religious freedom, religious liberty.”