Khizr Khan and his wife speaking at the Democratic National Convention. (Getty)
Gold Star father Khizr Khan said in an emotional interview on CNN that Republican nominee Donald Trump should return a Purple Heart that he received from a veteran.
Trump joked at a Virginia event about receiving the Purple Heart, saying he “always wanted” a Purple Heart, said NBC.
Watch:
NBC said Trump said it was “much easier” to receive the Purple Heart from someone who supported him that to earn it. Purple Hearts are given to service members who are wounded or killed. Trump said he received the Purple Heart from retired Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman, whom he said told him, “That’s my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you,” said Politico.
Donald Trump and Ret. Lt. Col. Louis Dorfman. (Getty)
Dorfman received the Purple Heart after being wounded in November 2007 while serving in the Iraq War, according to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. Dorfman later told NBC that he gave Trump a copy. Read more here:
On CNN, Khizr Khan, the father of Capt. Humayun Khan, who died in 2004 in Iraq, emotionally demanded that Trump return Dorfman’s Purple Heart. Khan, Trump and Trump supporters have been exchanging words since Khan criticized Trump in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in which he waved a copy of the U.S. Constitution and criticized Trump for, among other things, his comments on Muslims.
In CNN Aug. 2, Khan praised Dorfman, calling him “a veteran, so kind. What a gracious man, hands him his Purple Heart. What he does, he receives it thanks him, puts it in his pocket, later on pulls it out, I got this Purple Heart, so easy, I always wanted one.”
Khan then challenged Trump on his own military service, saying, “Donald Trump, you had the time. You did not serve. You know what you should have done and listen to me and I want his surrogates to listen to me, you should have pinned that back to that veteran’s chest and you should have hugged him and thanked him.”
He said he was upset by what he called Trump’s “lack of empathy, lack of common sense. He wants to be the leader, the commander in chief of this United States of America, that is the thoughtfulness? He should have put that Purple Heart back if he had been sensible he would have known what it takes to earn that Purple Heart… that was the most gracious person that came and handed him the Purple Heart…. you had your chance. You escaped. You dodged the draft. And now you want an easy Purple Heart in your pocket. You should have pinned it back. Even now, call that man… put that Purple Heart back on that person’s chest.”
