--- title: President Obama Fires Back at Donald Trump Over Khan Family description: President Obama fired back at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's dismissal of the family of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier canonical: https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-01T18:41:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:41:56.501Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Gold Star Khan Family og:description: "We have to do everything that we can for those families," Obama said. og:url: https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dc2fa02ed787a2/6988a0a6428a9e22bbcd3b92/gettyimages-585030100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Obama Departs White House For Atlanta og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Gold Star Khan Family twitter:description: "We have to do everything that we can for those families," Obama said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dc2fa02ed787a2/6988a0a6428a9e22bbcd3b92/gettyimages-585030100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Gold Star Khan Family > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 1, 2016 6:41 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama waves to guests as he crosses the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House August 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images U.S. President Barack Obama waves to guests as he crosses the South Lawn before boarding Marine One and departing the White House August 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 1, 2016 6:41 PM UTC President Obama fired back at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s dismissal of the family of a dead Muslim U.S. soldier during remarks at the [Disabled American Veterans’ National Conference in Atlanta](http://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/) on Monday. The sacrifice Gold Star families have given to America is greater than most Americans will know, the president said. “No one—no one—has given more for our freedom and security than our Gold Star families,” Obama said. “They represent the very best of our country. They continue to inspire us every day and every moment. They serve of as a powerful reminder of the true strength of America.” The president added that the U.S. has to “do everything that we can for those families and and honor them and be humbled by them.” The presidents remarks followed statements by Trump demeaning the sacrifice of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son Humayun died while serving in Iraq in 2004\. Trump said in an interview with _ABC_‘s This Week that he’d [made “a lot of sacrifices”](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-father-fallen-soldier-ive-made-lot/story?id=41015051) in his life, including providing jobs and launching businesses. Trump has been attempting to walk back those comments since the interview, but continued to rebuke the Khan family’s public appearances on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/760070280932982784) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/760074526059270144) [Veterans of Foreign Wars released a statement ](http://www.vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2016-Articles/VFW-Supports-Gold-Star-Families/)denouncing Trump’s comments on Monday. “Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” said VFW’s Brian Duffy. “Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.” During his speech on Monday, the president said the [audience members at the DAV conference ](http://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/)had a unique understanding of the sacrifices of our nation’s veterans and service-members. President Obama also engaged in a bit of Trump-fact checking, saying that as the Commander-in-Chief he’s “pretty tired of some folks trash talking America’s military and troops.” “America’s military is the most capable fighting force in history—and we’re going to keep it that way,” he said. Throughout the speech, Obama touted the progress his administration has made on veterans issues, including curbing homelessness, increasing veteran employment, and reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2010, Obama pledged to veteran homelessness by 2015—as of this year, veteran homelessness had been reduced by 47%. En route to Atlanta on Monday, Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said the president “knew it was ambitious” when he set the goal, but he is proud of the progress that they have made. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/"},"headline":"President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Gold Star Khan Family","datePublished":"2016-08-01T18:41:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:41:56.501Z","description":"\"We have to do everything that we can for those families,\" Obama said.","url":"https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/","keywords":["White House","Veterans","Barack Obama","Obama"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dc2fa02ed787a2/6988a0a6428a9e22bbcd3b92/gettyimages-585030100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42dc2fa02ed787a2/6988a0a6428a9e22bbcd3b92/gettyimages-585030100.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Departs White House For Atlanta","caption":"President Obama Departs White House For Atlanta","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4433622/president-obama-donald-trump-khizr-ghazala-khan/","name":"President Obama Slams Donald Trump Over Gold Star Khan Family"}}]}] ```