Gold Star father appears in fundraising email amid Trump phone call controversy

Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who has repeatedly criticized President Trump, appeared in a Monday fundraising email for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) amid the recent controversy over Trump’s conversation with a Gold Star widow.

“My son died for this country. And like you, I watched Donald Trump’s latest attack on Gold Star families in horror,” the email reads. “While Donald Trump’s words are devastating, they’re not surprising. Donald Trump can’t comprehend the sacrifice from our service members and families like mine.”

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Khan has previously been featured in fundraising emails from the DCCC. His son, Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004 while serving in the U.S. Army.

“I know the only way to stop Trump is to win a Democratic House,” the email continues. “I’d walk barefoot to every district in the country if it means Democrats win. But I can’t do it alone. I need you fighting with me.”

Khan rose to national prominence when he spoke out against Trump at the Democratic National Convention last year.

In a Monday night television appearance, he criticized White House chief of staff John Kelly for defending Trump regarding the phone call.

“His appearance in defense of Donald Trump at that moment, moment of tragedy in America, where my four brave sons so bravely lost their lives under very difficult circumstances, instead of honoring them and restraining from political expediency, John Kelly, citizen John Kelly now, we honor his service, we honor his family’s service, but now, he is a citizen of this nation,” Khan said.

The president has been entangled in disputes over a phone call with the widow of slain Sgt. La David Johnson. Rep. Frederica Wilson’s (D-Fla.) said last week that Trump told Myeshia Johnson that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”

Trump has repeatedly disputed these accounts of the phone call. Myeshia Johnson, the soldier’s wife, said during a Monday interview that Wilson’s description of the call is accurate.

This report was updated on Dec. 18 at 10 am.