During a segment on "Face the Nation" last Sunday, Khizr Khan came out in defense of those soldiers who fell in Niger in early October. His defense was in light of controversy from the previous week over the president's call to the family of fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson. It was revealed by Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) that the president had told the soldier's widow, Myeshia Johnson, in a conciliatory call, that her husband knew what he had signed up for.

Khan suggests that Kelly should have used restraint

On Thursday of last week, President Trump's chief of staff felt compelled to make a statement during a press briefing where he defended the president's call to the grieving widow.

He said that no president can ever say the right thing when making a call like that. Gen. Kelly also said that he was shocked that Rep. Wilson had listened in on the call and accused her of trying to politicize the death of the soldier.

Khan was asked about Kelly's statements, to which the Gold Star father said that the four-star general should have refrained from making those statements. He referred to the service of a military leader who retires and collects their pension, saying that they should maintain the dignity of honoring the fallen. But as a citizen, Gen. Kelly should have refrained from making such a statement.

The lawyer was also on "CBS This Morning" on Monday where he reserved the same criticism for President Trump.

He referred to the dignity, respect, and restraint that the president's staff should have used to advise the president when calling Myeisha Johnson. There appeared to be some resistance from the panel of anchors as to whether John Kelly promoted any restraint. They pointed out that Gen. Kelly had advised the president to not make the call.

Mr. Khan, however, pushed back, saying that White House staff should have insisted.

Khan vs. Trump administration

Last year, Khizr and his wife Ghazala were the targets of political attacks by the Trump campaign team. At the time it was observed that the then-candidate Trump was proposing a ban on Muslim families, which caused the Muslim-American to speak out.

Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention slamming Trump's proposal and offered to lend him his copy of the Constitution to read to become familiar with the rights of immigrants. What resulted was more targeted attacks by Trump accusing Hillary Clinton staffers of engineering the incident as a stunt.

Khan's appearance over that weekend was to promote his new book titled: "An American Family," where he writes about his family's American experience. In his interview, Khan revealed that he was a card-carrying Republican before he became a citizen. He said that he was supportive of Reagan's American values and would take his children to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial regularly. He said that by reading these values, it instilled patriotism.

Mr. Khan also referred to an essay that his fallen son had written titled: "Democracy Requires Vigilance and Sacrifice," saying that in these trying times, everyone would be better served if they were vigilant. He said that their democracy, their way of life, and their self-governing was under attack. Here is a video about Khan's values published by the Atlantic:
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