--- title: Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Captain Khan's Death description: Katrina Pierson tried to blame Obama's policy for Khan's death, but he died in 2004—five years before Obama took office canonical: https://time.com/4436473/trump-spokeswoman-blames-obama-for-humayun-khans-death-but-gets-her-history-wrong/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T11:59:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:48.297Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Khan's Death, Which Happened When Bush Was President og:description: Katrina Pierson tried to blame Obama's policy for Khan's death, but he died in 2004 og:url: https://time.com/4436473/trump-spokeswoman-blames-obama-for-humayun-khans-death-but-gets-her-history-wrong/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38257edf8238c4cb/6988a0ea0b72e319d76ea844/katrina-pierson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Trump's spokesperson Pierson speaks with delegates on the floor at the start of the final session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Khan's Death, Which Happened When Bush Was President twitter:description: Katrina Pierson tried to blame Obama's policy for Khan's death, but he died in 2004 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38257edf8238c4cb/6988a0ea0b72e319d76ea844/katrina-pierson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Humayun Khan's Death. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a5fed40c-5c08-4876-8c03-22ba255b2c4d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 3, 2016 11:59 AM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's spokesperson Katrina Pierson speaks with delegates on the floor at the start of the final session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's spokesperson Katrina Pierson speaks with delegates on the floor at the start of the final session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. Brian Snyder—Reuters by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 3, 2016 11:59 AM UTC Donald Trump’s camp has tried to deflect blame in recent days after the Republican candidate [cast aspersions](http://time.com/4432816/donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/) on the parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier, Capt. Humayun Khan. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have [condemned](http://time.com/4432779/donald-trump-gold-star-muslim-soldier-2/?iid=sr-link7) him for disrespecting a [Gold Star family](http://time.com/4433169/khizr-khan-gold-star-families-history/), but the Trump campaign is still trying to save face without apologizing. In an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAtxCRfU1g0) with Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, Trump’s spokeswoman Katrina Pierson tried to blame President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Capt. Khan’s death, saying “it was under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that changed the rules of engagement that probably cost his life.” But Khan died in Iraq in 2004—five years before Obama took office—while George W. Bush was president. Blitzer subsequently ran a [fact-check](https://twitter.com/CNNSitRoom/status/760651965172899840) on air, and social media users coined a new hashtag to mock the spokeswoman: #KatrinaPiersonHistory. > [](https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/760674791992991744) > [](https://twitter.com/EGCollins/status/760664445446156288) > [](https://twitter.com/quip1/status/760651983653003264) > [](https://twitter.com/Clarknt67/status/760679415667953664) > [](https://twitter.com/jfreewright/status/760702353108598784) > [](https://twitter.com/allanbrauer/status/760627459028987905) Pierson tried to get in on the action by using the hashtag herself, in a slightly different context: > [](https://twitter.com/KatrinaPierson/status/760670218305757185) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4436473/trump-spokeswoman-blames-obama-for-humayun-khans-death-but-gets-her-history-wrong/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4436473/trump-spokeswoman-blames-obama-for-humayun-khans-death-but-gets-her-history-wrong/"},"headline":"Trump Spokeswoman Blames Obama for Humayun Khan's Death. 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