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Undated: A service flag or service banner is a banner that family members of those serving in the United States Armed Forces can display.
A gold star (with a blue edge) represents a family member who died during Military Operations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_flag
-- 2016 --
August 1:
Khan spoke to the convention on July 28, 2016.
August 16: Gold Star Families Attack Trump Over Comments About Ghazala Khan
The families of 17 service members who died fighting for the U.S. demanded an apology from Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of "cheapening the sacrifice made by those we lost."
They said the Republican presidential nominee's suggestion that the Muslim mother of a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq had not “been allowed” to speak at the Democratic National Convention was akin to "attacking us."
A letter signed by the Gold Star families — the term for those who have lost loved ones during military service — also called Trump’s comments "repugnant, and personally offensive."
"When you question a mother's pain, by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing an arena of people, you are attacking us," the letter added. "When you say your job building buildings is akin to our sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/gold-star-families-attack-trump-over-comments-about-ghazala-khan-n620671
-- 2017 --
October 17: Trump Doubles Down On Criticism Of Obama Over Gold Star Families
President Donald Trump on Oct. 17 seemed to double down on his claim that President Barack Obama didn't call the families of American service members killed in combat, known as Gold Star families.
"You can ask General Kelly. Did he get a call from Obama?" Trump told "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade during an interview, presumably referring to White House chief of staff John Kelly's son who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
"I don't know what Obama's policy was," Trump told Kilmeade. "I write letters, and I also call."
Trump first suggested during a press conference on Oct. 16 that Obama did not call Gold Star families when he was president. Trump was responding to a reporter who asked about the four American soldiers killed in a raid in Niger earlier this month.
"President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls," Trump said, adding: "I like to call when it's appropriate."
https://taskandpurpose.com/trump-john-kelly-gold-star-families
October 18: The father of a slain US serviceman told CNN he believes critics of President Donald Trump's reported comments to a soldier's widow mistook his intended meaning.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said the President told the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed during an ambush in Niger, "He knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt."
Wilson, who said she heard the remarks via speakerphone, called them "insensitive." Trump has said Wilson "fabricated" the comments. The White House has declined to comment, calling the conversation private.
But Gold Star Father Craig Gross, whose son was Cpl. Frank Robert Gross, said Trump's "words are basically being taken and misconstrued."
"President Trump is doing a lot of good things as far as Gold Star families are concerned," Gross said. "I believe that if you interviewed him personally, one on one, you would find that he is very, very empathetic and very compassionate, not only toward Gold Star families but also in regards to our active duty."
https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/18/politics/gold-star-families-trump-cnntv/index.html
October 19: To some Gold Star families, Trump has comforted, helped them heal
Family members of three 101st Airborne Division soldiers who died this summer say their interactions with President Donald Trump were cordial and helped them heal in their grief.
The recollections offer a stark contrast to recent reports of other interactions with Gold Star family members with whom Trump has talked in the wake of their family members’ deaths.
Jasmin Bays, the wife of Sgt. William Bays, 29, said Trump was “kind, genuine and sincere,” in their conversation, which she wanted to keep private.
“His words helped me heal during my time of grief,” Bays told USA TODAY Network - Tennessee in an email.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/10/19/trump-gold-star-families-comfort-helped-heal/781111001/
October 19: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who lost a son in Afghanistan, gave a powerful defense at Thursday's press briefing of President Trump's handling of a call to a Gold Star widow. Trump was accused by a Democratic member of Congress of insulting the wife of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger, during a phone call on Monday.
"There’s no perfect way to make that phone call," Kelly said.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/10/19/gen_kelly_defends_trump_on_gold_star_family_flap.html
October 20: Gold Star families are coming out en masse and disputing Trump's claims amid his latest controversy
Gold Star families are speaking out after President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of not calling the families of fallen soldiers.
As The Washington Post and Associated Press have found in extensive reports on Trump's calls to Gold Star families since taking office, a number of parents and spouses say they have yet to receive calls from the commander-in-chief.
And one parent who did receive a call from Trump said the president promised him a $25,000 check, which he had not yet received. The White House later said the check "has been sent."
The AP reached out to the families of all 43 military servicemembers who have died on duty during the Trump presidency, making contact with roughly half the families. Of the families that would discuss their contact with Trump after the death of their child or spouse, nine said they had heard from Trump either in a phone call or letter, while nine others said they had not.
https://www.businessinsider.com/gold-star-dispute-trump-soldiers-2017-10
October 21: Khizr Khan: the patriotic American Muslim who called out Donald Trump
The father of the US soldier Humayun Khan talks about losing his son to the Iraq war and why it drove him to challenge the future president on live TV
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/21/khizr-khan-the-patriotic-american-muslim-who-called-out-donald-trump
October 23: Myeshia Johnson, Sgt. [La David] Johnson's widow, told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday that the president "made me cry even worse" when he called her last week. She said she objected to Trump's tone and his confusion over her husband's name.
Families of fallen service members have been thrust into the spotlight in ways they never have before, says Bonnie Carroll, president and founder of TAPS, which stands for Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a charity that offers services to Gold Star families.
"Grief is a very private matter, and for our families when they suffer the loss of a military loved one, there is a public mourning that occurs,"
The phone call controversy has continued to build over the past week, since Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., who listened in on the call, disclosed details of the conversation. It has also renewed attention on Gold Star families, which is a term used by the military to describe the parents, siblings and children of men and women killed in combat.
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/23/559558075/trump-call-controversy-renews-spotlight-on-gold-star-families
October 23: The check from President Trump to a North Carolina Gold Star family for $25,000 that he promised in a call earlier this year finally came on Monday, a little than the promised was revealed.
Trump promised Chris Baldridge — whose son, Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge was killed in June in Afghanistan — $25,000 because he was hurting for money and wouldn't receive anything from the government after his son's death. The promise was made in a call Trump made to Chris Baldridge in June.
However, Baldridge told the Washington Post he never received the check and only received a condolence letter from the White House.
A reporter in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., tweeted a photo of the check Monday evening. A letter from Trump blamed the delay on his lawyers.
"I am glad my legal counsel has been able to finally approve this contribution to you," Trump wrote to Baldridge. "Enclosed is a check for $25,000 — I hope this will make things a bit easier, but nothing will ever replace your son, Dillon. He was an American hero."
The check is dated for Oct. 18, the day the story broke that he had promised Baldridge a check but had not yet delivered.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trumps-25-000-check-to-gold-star-father-arrives-days-after-promise-was-revealed
October 24: How Trump's wild 8-day feud involving Gold Star families unfolded
It's been a wild eight days as President Donald Trump has feuded with a Florida congresswoman and a Gold Star family.
And the controversy, which has yet to dwindle, began when Trump was asked a week ago why he hadn't mentioned anything about an early-October ambush in Niger that led to the deaths of four US servicemembers.
From that question stemmed days of back-and-forth between Trump, his chief of staff John Kelly, aides of past presidents, a member of Congress, former members of the military, and Gold Star families. The controversy has continued almost uninterrupted for more than a full week.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-frederica-wilson-gold-star-la-david-johnson-2017-10
October 28: On the morning of Tuesday, June 8, 2004, a taxi navigated the serpentine barriers toward the gate of Forward Operating Base Warhorse in Baquba, Iraq. A U.S. Army officer who was on watch saw it and ran forward toward the vehicle. That is when it exploded, killing the soldier, Capt. Humayun Saqib Muazzam Khan, and two Iraqis who stood nearby. Khan was a Muslim-American, killed by a suicide bomber who was likely of the same faith. He was laid to rest in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, along with thousands of others killed in the so-called Global War on Terror. His family privately mourned their loss daily, frequently visiting his gravesite. Then the openly racist campaign of Donald Trump swept them into a political storm.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1084421/trump-attacking-gold-star-families-is-nothing-new.html
October 30: Pentagon Document Contradicts Trump’s Gold Star Claims
In the hours after President Donald Trump said on an Oct. 17 radio broadcast that he had contacted nearly every family that had lost a military servicemember this year, the White House was hustling to learn from the Pentagon the identities and contact information for those families, according to an internal Defense Department email.
The email exchange, which has not been previously reported, shows that senior White House aides were aware on the day the president made the statement that it was not accurate — but that they should try to make it accurate as soon as possible, given the gathering controversy.
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/after-trump-claim-white-house-still-lacked-casualty-list
November 7: Gold Star father criticizes Trump, but remains hopeful about the country’s ‘goodness’
Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who gained national attention last year after sparring with President Donald Trump, is still shocked that Trump won the election.
Trump has shown ignorance and a lack of empathy, Khan said in an interview.
But Khan remains energized that the public disapproves of Trump’s policies – policies that Khan views as misguided.
“It has reaffirmed our beliefs in the goodness of the values that America – my nation – practices and that serve as a beacon for the rest of the world,” he said. “The majority of this nation has shown support for those values: the rule of law, treating all people with dignity and respect, conducting ourselves in a civilized manner. Those will prevail. This incompetent administration does not speak for the majority of America.”
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article183201996.html
December 6: Gold Star Father Challenged Trump with a Copy of the Constitution. Now He's Telling His Own Story.
It was an afterthought; a 99-cent pocket Constitution that Khizr Khan bought in bulk, so he could give one to each of the Army ROTC cadets from the University of Virginia who came to his home to honor his son, a former cadet like them who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
"Each of you will be taking an oath soon to defend this Constitution," Khan told the cadets. "Please read it as you prepare to defend it ... regardless of the cost."
That little book would become so much more for Khan after he pulled it from his jacket at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, held it up and addressed then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had spoken out against immigrants and Muslims.
"Have you even read the United States Constitution?" Khan famously asked, as his wife, Ghazala, stood stoically beside him. "I will gladly lend you my copy."
That copy is now so iconic that "it has been retired," Khan said, and donated -- by request -- to the Virginia Historical Society.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/12/06/gold-star-father-challenged-trump-copy-constitution-now-hes-telling-his-own-story.html
-- 2018 --
January 10: The Gold Star father who sparred with President Trump during the 2016 presidential race is using his political fame to boost Democratic candidates in crowded primaries in 2018.
Khizr Khan has so far backed several Democrats running in must-win House races. In an interview with The Hill, Khan said that he’s motivated by events like the fatal violence at a white supremacist rally last August in Charlottesville, Va.
It is a new political role for Khan, who entered the national spotlight with his 2016 Democratic National Convention speech about his son — a soldier who was killed fighting in the Iraq War in 2004 — as well as Trump’s attacks on Muslims.
Trump responded to Khan’s speech with a series of attacks, saying he had made “a lot of sacrifices” and questioning whether Khan’s wife didn’t speak at the convention because of her religion.
It remains to be seen what kind of impact Khan’s endorsement will have in these primaries, but strategists say a boost from a high-profile Democrat could be a boon for candidates looking to accelerate their fundraising and mobilize voters.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/368217-gold-star-father-attacked-by-trump-steps-up-role-in-dem-primaries
July 12: Embattled FBI agent Peter Strzok said he wrote an anti-Trump email after the future president insulted the Muslim Gold Star parents of a 27-year-old Army captain who was killed by a car bomb in 2004 in Iraq as he tried to save other troops.
“I think it’s important, when you look at those texts, that you understand the context in which they were made and the things that were going on across America,” Strzok told lawmakers during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill, referring to a text he sent to his lover and FBI colleague Lisa Page in which he wrote “We will stop it,” referring to Trump’s election.
“In terms of the texts — ‘We will stop it’ — you need to understand that was written late at night, off-the-cuff, and in response it to a series of events that included candidate Trump insulting the immigrant family of a fallen war hero,” he said, his voice rising as he was being grilled by Rep. Trey Gowdy.
“And my presumption, based on that horrible, disgusting behavior, was that [Americans] would not elect somebody demonstrating that behavior to be president of the United States,” he continued.
“It was in no way, unequivocally, any suggestion that me, the FBI, would take any action whatsoever to improperly impact the electoral process for any candidate.”
https://nypost.com/2018/07/12/strzok-says-trumps-attacks-on-gold-star-family-prompted-texts/
September 28: Presidential Proclamation on Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-proclamation-gold-star-mothers-familys-day-2018/
December 22: Trump signs bill to name post office for son of Gold Star father Khizr Khan
https://abc7chicago.com/trump-signs-bill-to-name-post-office-for-son-of-gold-star-father-khizr-khan/4951042/
-- 2019 --
-- 2020 --
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