Moulton: Trump owes Gold Star family apology

By Melissa Hanson, mhanson@lowellsun.com

Updated:   08/03/2016 10:10:23 AM EDT

 

Rep. Moulton

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton along with an Epping, N.H., military mother and two Granite State military veterans, called for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to apologize to the Gold Star family he verbally attacked over the weekend following an emotional speech at the Democratic National Convention.

The four spoke by a conference call organized by the Hillary Clinton campaign on Tuesday morning in response to Trump's comments regarding the speech Khizr Khan gave at the DNC about his son, Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim American known as a war hero after being killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004. Khizr Khan in his speech suggested that Trump had sacrificed nothing. The Republican candidate fired off a response to the grieving parents, questioning why Ghazala Khan did not speak about her son during the convention.

"As a vet, I can't imagine what it would be like if Trump treated my mother that way," said Moulton, who served four tours in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer. He said he "would never want to serve on the front lines in combat" under someone like Trump.

Moulton, a Democrat who represents the 6th District, including the towns of Bedford, Billerica, Burlington, Tewksbury and Wilmington, called for an apology from Trump. So did Jim Steiner, a retired Green Beret officer and a Republican; John Hutson, retired rear admiral and former dean of the University of New Hampshire Law School; and Christine Vallone, of Epping, whose son Danny was deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and returned safely.

 

"You don't attack or insult a gold star family," said Steiner. "If anything, the Khans and families like them deserve our utmost respect."

Steiner said Trump's comments toward the Khan family demonstrated his lack of ability to act as commander in chief.

The view was shared by Hutson.

"He is completely unreliable, and in my opinion, Donald Trump just being a candidate undermines our national security," he said. "He would not only be a disaster as president and commander in chief, we would be in peril."

Moulton agreed, noting that the terror group known as the Islamic State has been documented using Trump's words to recruit members. The congressman said he did not think the candidate had the judgment or temperament to serve as commander in chief.

"I think about the kind of character I want in someone to lead the United States and I don't see that character in him," said Vallone. "It changes your life when your children are deployed, you're on pins and needles. I want somehow for him to understand that more."

Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had the support of those on the call.

"She believes we are stronger when we work with our allies," Moulton said. "She's exactly the kind of leader we need."

During the Republican National Convention, Patricia Smith spoke about her son, Sean, an employee of the U.S. Foreign Service who was killed during the attack on diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Smith placed the blame for her son's death on Clinton.

Moulton during the conference call said he did not hear Smith's speech and that he had no comment to make about it.

Spokeswoman Carrie Rankin said Moulton was in Afghanistan and Iraq during on a House Armed Services Committee fact-finding mission during the RNC and was not able to closely follow it.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/news/ci_30201235/moulton-trump-owes-gold-star-family-apology#ixzz4GNgHX2nB

Old fish in a barrel 

4 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

Old fish in a barrel 

Avoiding this current event like the plague I see...

 

MC on treatment of Gold Star families

It's looking a lot like Biden can screw up anything he's involved with.  It's covered in the other article posted, but really needs it's own recognition.  Sad.

Biden blasted by Gold Star dads Darin Hoover, Mark Schmitz for checking watch during ceremony (nypost.com)

Sorry they wasted your time Joe.  I'm sure you had better things to do...

 

 

1 minute ago, Rigid1 said:

Avoiding this current event like the plague I see...

 

MC on treatment of Gold Star families

His hypocrisy and lies are well documented. 

2 minutes ago, Rigid1 said:

Avoiding this current event like the plague I see...

 

MC on treatment of Gold Star families

More fake outrage. Oh look Biden looked at his watch?

yeah with ending the war, dealing with the Covid pandemic, the worst hurricane in decades outing power for millions at the same time…..I’m sure he’s watching his watch.

 

2 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

More fake outrage. Oh look Biden looked at his watch?

yeah with ending the war, dealing with the Covid pandemic, the worst hurricane in decades outing power for millions at the same time…..I’m sure he’s watching his watch.

 

If trump did that your head would have exploded and you know it.

Biden is like a short circuiting robot. There's not much left in him and we all see this. Hell he never had nearly enough before being sworn in. 

3 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

More fake outrage. Oh look Biden looked at his watch?

yeah with ending the war, dealing with the Covid pandemic, the worst hurricane in decades outing power for millions at the same time…..I’m sure he’s watching his watch.

 

13 times?  

They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one,” Hoover said. “All 13, he looked down at his watch.”

 

1 minute ago, Stephen Hawking said:

If trump did that your head would have exploded and you know it.

But in true hack fashion he's talking "Fake outrage"   

7 hours ago, Rich said:

CGI !!!!! 

Edited August 31, 20215 yr by Stephen Hawking

The mystery has been solved

Gold Star families slam Kamala Harris for 'playing politics' over Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gold-star-families-slam-kamala-harris-playing-politics-trumps-visit-arlington-national-cemetery

Useful Idiots defending the cult leader at all cost:

 

24 minutes ago, SnowRider said:

Useful Idiots defending the cult leader at all cost:

 

The pedo  you voted for cant even finish 4 years..

1 hour ago, Rigid1 said:

Gold Star families slam Kamala Harris for 'playing politics' over Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gold-star-families-slam-kamala-harris-playing-politics-trumps-visit-arlington-national-cemetery

Remember when Dems used to respect Gold Star families? 
 

Well, when they used them for political gain at least

28 minutes ago, Pete said:

The pedo  you voted for cant even finish 4 years..

I wouldn’t be surprised if that brain dead corpse was still asleep in his chair at the beach lol

5 minutes ago, Skidooski said:

Remember when Dems used to respect Gold Star families? 
 

Well, when they used them for political gain at least

I do!!

This has become useful more and more…

 

Mom Who Invited Trump to Arlington Cemetery Argues ‘No Political Campaigning’ Was Done | Video

Stephanie Kaloi

Sat, August 31, 2024 at 1:22 PM CDT·4 min read

6.8k

The family who invited Donald Trump to Arlington National Cemetery on Monday was “happy to welcome him,” mother-in-law of a dead soldier Christy Shamblin told CNN on Saturday. Shamblin added that Trump accompanied the family to Section 60 of the graveyard “at our request to spend time with our loved ones.”

“There was not a press presence there,” Shamblin continued. “We privately took pictures among ourselves and it was, you know, a more celebratory feeling for that day. Because we want to celebrate our loved ones, and it’s very hard to find ways to do that at, you know, at a cemetery, but they were very respectful.”

Shamblin also said the families extended an invitation to the Biden-Harris administration, “and we didn’t hear back from the White House.”

When asked by conservative host Michael Smerconish (a former Republican) if it was appropriate for Trump to share footage from the visit in a campaign video on TikTok, Shamblin admitted she doesn’t use the social video app but insisted that “there’s no political campaigning that was done at Section 60 that day.”

After Smerconish pushed her again on the topic, Shamblin added, “I just have to go back to, we really just want our kids to be remembered and honored, and it’s unfortunate that we can’t get that, you know, in other ways. So we support President Trump and he’s supported us.”

On Tuesday, Arlington released a statement about Trump’s visit that made it clear the trip violated the law. “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” the statement read.

“Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants.”

As reported by the Washington Post, the law in question is 32 CFR § 553.32, which states, “The Executive Director shall ensure the sanctity of public and private memorial and ceremonial events.”

The law also dictates, “All memorial services and ceremonies within Army National Military Cemeteries, other than official ceremonies, shall be purely memorial in purpose and may be dedicated only to: The memory of all those interred, inurned, or memorialized in Army National Military Cemeteries; The memory of all those who died in the military service of the United States while serving during a particular conflict or while serving in a particular military unit or units; The memory of the individual or individuals to be interred, inurned, or memorialized at the particular site at which the service or ceremony is held.”

“Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities” and “Private memorial services may be closed to the media and public as determined by the decedent’s primary next of kin,” the law reads.

Trump appeared to share photos and video from the visit in a politically motivated way. Campaign aide Dan Scavino posted a video of Trump laying a wreath with Shamblin and other family members.

The video posted to Trump’s account on TikTok also shows Trump commenting, “And then they took over that disaster — the leaving of Afghanistan” with a caption that reads, “Should have never happened” — two factors that make the assertion that the video and visit had no political motivation difficult to maintain at best. The comments and the caption appeared to refer to the widely criticized withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan under the Biden administration.

Also on Saturday, Trump shared a series of videos from parents of American troops killed in action on Truth Social. Each of the parents, a list that includes Shamblin, offers their support for Trump’s actions at Arlington — despite the apparent lawlessness therein.

Shamblin was an invited guest and speaker at the Republican National Convention this year. She spoke about her daughter-in-la Nicole Gee, who was among the 13 Americans and 60 Afghans killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan in August 2021.

The mother-in-law said that Trump “allowed us to remember our heroes” and added, “Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names, and he spoke to us in a way that made us feel understood.”

 

Mainecat the childless POS who couldn’t even get a job on his own lecturing parents that lost children because of gross incompetence on the part of his precious Dems is beyond disgusting and pathetic. He really is someone that needs a good ass kicking.

Where’s the outrage you fucking simps?