Donald Trump to Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier: ‘I’ve Made a Lot of Sacrifices’

Donald Trump said Saturday that he has “made a lot of sacrifices” by creating “tens of thousands of jobs”—his first response to the emotional Democratic convention speech by grieving Army father Khizr Khan, who told Trump he had “sacrificed nothing and no one.”

Khan spoke at the convention on Thursday, sharing the story of his son, Captain Humayun S.M. Khan, who was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004. Khan’s wife, Ghazala, was at her husband’s side during his speech.

“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard,” Trump said on Saturday, in an interview with ABC News. “I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”

Read more: Father of Fallen Muslim Soldier Calls on GOP Leaders to ‘Repudiate’ Donald Trump

In Saturday’s interview, Trump questioned whether Khizr Khan’s words were his own, asking: “Did Hillary’s script writers write it?” He also suggested that Ghazala Khan hadn’t spoken because she was not allowed to as a Muslim woman.

“If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said. “She was extremely quiet, and it looked like she had nothing to say.”

Trump made a similar remark in an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd on Friday night. “I’d like to hear his wife say something,” Trump said.

In an interview with MSNBC on Friday, Ghazala Khan said she had been nervous about speaking or appearing at the convention for fear she would lose her composure.

“[I] was very nervous because I cannot see my son’s picture, and I cannot even come in the room where his pictures are—and that’s why when I saw the picture on my back, I couldn’t take it. And I controlled myself at that time” she said. “It is very hard.”

Khizr Khan, in turn, said his speech was made possible by his wife’s presence at his side.

“She was my coach, and she was there. I was strengthened by her presence,” he said in the MSNBC interview. “Forty years of marriage has brought us in a position where we are strength for one another, so her being there was the strength that I could hold my composure. I am much weaker than she is.”