New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) broke with Donald Trump on Tuesday and defended Khizr and Ghazala Khan, saying it was “inappropriate” to criticize the Gold Star parents.
Christie told reporters at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that although he didn’t see the Khans’ appearance at the Democratic National Convention last week, as a father, he could not imagine the pain they endured when they lost their son, an Army captain who gave his life saving his fellow soldiers in Iraq in 2004.
“For Mr. and Mrs. Khan, the pain of losing their son while defending our country is unfathomable, and I think it gives them the right to say whatever they want, whether they’re right or wrong,” Christie said, according to Politico.
Khizr Khan’s moving DNC speech went after Trump for his attacks on Muslims and immigrants, saying, “Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
Since then, Khan has come under intense criticism from Trump and his supporters. He has been called a terrorist, and has been described as unpatriotic and not humble enough. Trump has repeatedly tweeted about him, and in an interview with ABC News, he suggested that Ghazala Khan didn’t speak at the convention because her Muslim faith didn’t allow her to.
For the record, Khan responded in a Washington Post op-ed that the reason she didn’t speak was because she was too overcome by grief.
Christie has, in the past, been outspoken about anti-Muslim bigotry. In 2011, he stood up for Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim American man he nominated for a seat on the New Jersey Superior Court of Passaic County.
“Ignorance is behind the criticism of Sohail Mohammed. ... They are criticizing him because he is a Muslim American,” Christie said at the time.
Conservative writers called Mohammed “a longtime mouthpiece for radical Islamists” and charged Christie with being “in bed with the enemy.”
Christie is an outspoken supporter of Trump, making his comments Tuesday notable. He declined to offer a specific opinion on whether Trump mishandled the Khan episode, but he encouraged people to stay focused on the sacrifice of the troops.
“We need to honor their sacrifice for our country and we need to honor their son’s sacrifice for our country,” Christie said. “And to focus on anything other than that, to me, is missing the point. That’s what we should be doing, and any comments that we’re making publicly or privately should be with that in mind. My view on this is that the Khans have a right to say whatever it is they want regarding the loss of their son and that for all the Gold Star families out there, they have put forward a sacrifice that I cannot fathom as a parent.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.