Khizr Khan: Kelly needs to stop ‘mopping up’ after Trump

Gold Star parent Khizr Khan said Thursday that White House chief of staff John Kelly needs to stop “mopping up” after President Trump.

In an interview with Newsweek, Khan said that he is disappointed with Kelly for cleaning up after the controversy that Trump has ignited with several Gold Star families.

“He’s mopping up after the president, and that is disappointing,” Khan said.

Trump’s latest feud began after he said at a Monday press conference that President Obama and other past presidents did not call families of fallen soldiers, and on Tuesday he insisted that he calls “all the families.”

Since then, multiple families have come forward to say Trump never called them.

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It was later reported that when Trump phoned the grieving widow of a soldier killed in the attack in Niger, he told her that her husband “knew what he signed up for,” a comment that Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), who is a friend of the family and was with the soldier’s widow when the she took the call, slammed as insensitive and disrespectful.

In response, Kelly, a former Marine general whose son was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, delivered an emotional address to reporters Thursday at the White House, explaining the process of notifying next of kin that their loved ones have been killed in action, defending the president’s calls to Gold Star families and condemning Wilson for “listening in” on the phone call.

“[Kelly is] a good soldier, but he should know that he works for the American people … this mopping, enough of mopping after these not-so-dignified expressions of condolence,” Khan told Newsweek. “This is what history will write: That, after serving so honorably, he came to the White House to serve with the most racist and bigoted president.”

Khan, who’s son was killed in Iraq in 2004, is a vocal critic of the president and has spoken out about Trump’s “lack of empathy” in his treatment of Gold Star families.