Clinton rebukes Trump

Clinton rebukes Trump over Khan comments

The Democratic nominee also blasts her foe for scapegoating others.

By Annie Karni

Hillary Clinton on Sunday delivered a forceful rebuke of Donald Trump for ridiculing Gold Star parents of Muslim faith, saying she does “tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans.”

In her first public comments defending Khizr Khan, a Muslim who spoke powerfully at the Democratic National Convention last week about his son who was killed in Iraq protecting his unit, Clinton flatly rejected Trump’s pursuant attempts to ridicule Khan and his wife.

“Mr. Khan paid the ultimate sacrifice in his family, didn’t he?” Clinton said while speaking at an African-American church in Cleveland, in front of a crowd of about 200 churchgoers. “And what has he heard from Donald Trump? Nothing but insults and degrading comments about Muslims — a total misunderstanding of what made our country great, religious freedom, religious liberty. It’s enshrined in our Constitution, as Mr. Khan knows, because he’s actually read it.”

On Thursday night, ahead of Clinton’s speech accepting her party’s nomination, Khan brandished a copy of the Constitution and challenged Trump to read the document before insulting the country’s founding principles by pledging to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy,” Khan said, addressing Trump and adding, “You have sacrificed nothing, and no one.”

Trump responded by heaping criticism on Khan’s wife, Ghazala, implying that she stood silently by her husband’s side during his DNC speech because her Muslim faith muzzled her from speaking out publicly. The Khans explained that Ghazala was simply too overcome with grief to speak in public about her dead son. (She penned a column for Sunday's Washington Postin which she said of Trump: "He doesn't what the word sacrifice means.")

Clinton told the crowd at the Imani Temple that she and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, are both people of faith. Clinton is Methodist, and Kaine is a former Jesuit missionary of Catholic faith.

“I don’t begrudge anyone of any other faith, or no faith at all,” Clinton said. “But I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans, who would insult people because of their religion, their ethnicity, their disability. That’s just not how I was raised. That’s not how I was taught in my church.”

Clinton is on the final leg of a three-day bus tour across Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

At multiple stops in Pennsylvania on Saturday, she defended retired Gen. John Allen, who Trump labeled a “failed” general after he spoke at the DNC and validated Clinton as the only candidate with the national security experience necessary for the White House. On Saturday, her campaign issued a statement defending Khan. It carefully avoided mentioning Trump by name. Her remarks Sunday morning marked the first time she addressed the controversy caused by Trump's comments.