bush never apologized to cindy sheehan for his policies. did say that he sympathize said with her. and he never disparaged her. whatever you think about president george w. bush and the war in iraq, he didn't tell a gold star family and a grieving mother that she had no right to speak her mind about the death of her son in an american war. veterans are often treated as political footballs in our country. but they and their families have never quite been treated the way they are in this campaign right now, by the republican nominee for president. joining me now, the founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans for america, paul rieckhoff. thank you for joining me. >> good to see you. >> am i right to say this is new? i never want to say -- this is an unusual situation, with the khan family. >> this is totally unprecedented. the wars have been unprecedented to start with, because such a small percentage of the american population has served. but a direct attack on a gold star family for their patriotism, their integrity is totally unprecedented.

going all the way back to cindy sheehan. she protested outside president bush's crawford ranch after the loss of her son in iraq. kasie died the same year your son, 2004, president bush never attacked cindy sheehan directly. what is different here about the temperament of donald trump that you see when you compare how hillary clinton handled pat smith and how george bush handled cindy sheehan? >> you're right. it is different. and i think we have to look at the candidate. he doesn't seem to have any filter in terms of what he says to people and does not understand the sacrifice that our families have made to support this country. >> when he, donald trump, says he was viciously attacked and you saw the speech from mr. khan, where he asked the question, have you read the constitution, here is a copy of mine. in your mind, how does someone process that as a vicious attack, when you hear donald trump call that a vicious attack? what's your reaction to that? >> well, donald trump and now his surrogates are using those same words

. >> khazir khan is being compared to cindy sheehan, after she stage aid week's lo long protest in 2005 demanding to meet with him. p a statement released today she says, quote, have sympathy and empathy and i'm sorry their grief had to be used by the democratic party and attacked by the candidate for president. >>> teamsters local 853 says a deal provides for several improveme improvements and represents several tech shuttle companies. new nonstop flights to long beach will be beginning in january. jet blue announced it will add four daily flights. 1.1 million passengers traveled to oakland international airport in june. oakland is currently the fastest-growing airport. >> nearly a third of california residents do not have high speed internet at home. only >> if all have access, all high school students performance is going to be >>> michael finney has news about a two for one deal tonight. next on abc7 news, how it can help you manage your . >>> there is breaking news at the airport in phoenix. look at that. a large response surrounding an american airlines flight from mexico. we're t

bush did with cindy sheehan in 2004. that's the sorted of again erik lay person -- you don't mess with gold star families. for pigss -- politicians, for other republicans it's actually compounded. because this was such an easy one to figure out a way out of, why turn sb a controversy that went on not just for one day but two, three days. he could have put it to bed in his first interview with george stephanopoulos a week ago. and he didn't. gwen: and then the purple heart recipient said something to the effect, manu, well, this is an easier way to get it, which veterans and others were not thrilled with. >> it also came in the wake of, of course, this fight with the gold star family so it just comtounded -- compounded this certain. i think in fairness donald trump was not trying belittle the purple heart but it just came across that way. the -- it all underscores the concern in the party that donald trump is just not focusing on what could unit the party, which is hillary clinton. the interparty squabbles, the grk not en

. >> khazir khan is being compared to cindy sheehan, after she stage aid week's lo long protest in 2005ng to meet with him. p a statement released today she says, quote, have sympathy and empathy and i'm sorry their grief had to be used by the democratic party and attacked by the candidate for president. >>> teamsters local 853 says a deal provides for l improveme improvements and represents several tech shuttle companies. new nonstop flights to long beach will be beginning in january. jet blue announced it will add four daily flights. 1.1 million passengers traveled to oakland international airport in june. oakland is currently the fastest-growing airport. >> nearly a third of california residents do not have high speed internet at home. only 68% have proud band. >> if all have access, all high school students performance is going to be improved. >>> michael finney has news about a two for one deal tonight. next on abc7 news, how it can next on abc7 news, how it can help you manage your credit. ♪music the lord says, "come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and i will

with cindy sheehan. he disagreed with that criticism but didn't attack her. i don't understand what trump's strategy is. >> you would be in the same place as a lot of republicans no one has ever behaved quite like this in presidential politics. he's gone after people before in the past. john mccain and others and succeeded by showing strength but he's chosen to keep up a long running battle with the most sympathetic people you can imagine, gold star families. >> pushing off otherwise negative stories about hillary clinton that may lead all of the headlines. >> greatest frustration for republicans who want him to win is you have the remarks that hillary clinton talking about the fbi investigation where she clearly wasn't accurate. you've got gdp growth numbers. >> sluggish. >> weak economic numbers for the incumbent party. a lot of republicans are wonder why donald trump continues to fight with the khan but why isn't he focusing on these issues at a time when he did not get as good a convention bounce as

. >> cindy sheehan.on was killed in iraq and she camped out in crawford texas for weeks and weeks and weeks. she was aggressive and said nasty things about george w. bush but the president didn't respond with personal comments the way donald trump has. now, that was a different time, it was a different war, it's a different topic maybe we and you as an advisor to george bush didn't get what donald trump is getting right now about where the country is. >> let me hit pause on this conversation. this is a great conversation stand by because we're watching mr. trump getting ready to speak in columbus, ohio. and we're watching on what he said about vladimir putin saying he won't invade ukraine even though he has. trump is trying to clean it up. we'll show you how he's doing that. will it be effective? why all of this matters. stay here. see that? jill's gobbling up our bird's eye teriyaki broccoli. (mind-blowing sound) and look ben is going for more buffalo cauliflower. (mind-blowing sound) everybody's a vegg

cindy sheehan been fact-checked? have the khans been fact-checked and then beyond chris matthews called her comments against hillary a gross accusation and said "i don't care what that woman felt." i don't care what pat smith felt after the death of her son. she is falsely accusing hillary. she is not falsely accusing hillary. hillary told her they are going to get the guy who did the video. >> rush limbaugh and media choosing to cover some stories and not others. no question about it all gold star families deserve our respect and enormous gratitude is the media giving democratic gold star families more attention than republican gold star families since the convention khan family done six national interviews and story featured on several additional broadcast pat smith appeared at the republican convention mother of sean smith appeared in benghazi has only done two. both families have important stories to tell. both families have suffered enormous loss and as the media play favorites in deciding what stories to cover.

. >> george bush had cindy sheehan. he knew how to handle it. >> you guys are awesome, thank you. >> you're cuss aus yum. >> thank you for your service. all best to you. >> the republican national convention heard from pat smith, we've seen her on the "kelly file". the mother of terrorist attack victim sean smith. she delivered an emotional address but her speech was met with harsh criticism in the media. the nation called it a cynical exploitation of her grief. and msnbc referred to as so offensive it was hard to comprehend, one host suggesting pat smith ruined the evening and a writer for gq magazine tweeted out, quote, i would like to beat her to death. yes. joining me now, pastor darrell scott, eric guster, attorney and political commentator and steve hays. great to see you. that is the problem. is that you can't take the high ground and you're talking about wanting to beat her to death if it's somebody with a benghazi testimonial. your thoughts, pastor? >> well, pat smith was very emotional in her delivery because

even at the height of the iraq war, you had goldstar family members like cindy sheehan who are criticalf them president bush. i don't recall president bush uttering an attack on her or her family. and that is the kind of honor and respect and character that i think all americans deserve in our commander-in-chief. amy: can you talk about donald trump's comments about mrs. khan? >> there was something really disturbing and almost sinister in the way that he questioned why she was standing silently next to her husband during his remarks. it was almost like he was stoking fear and ignorance of islam by implying that she was silent because her husband would not let her speak or because of her faith. has made it clear repeatedly in recent days that her family, her culture, her religion has never stopped her from speaking. i think anyone who saw those remarks as the evening and saw the presentation and attribute to their son would understand why a grieving mother, a mother of -- a gold star mother would just frankly not be able to speak before millions of people. it is really disturbing that m

bush who was criticized much, much more harshly by another gold star mother, cindy sheehan, this is howresident bush responded. >> i sympathize with mrs. shee han. she feels strongly about her position. and she has every right in the world to say what she believes. this is america. she has a right to her position. >> it is a little different than what we heard from mr. trump. why not just take the high road? you can't win when you're in a fight against somebody who has such loss and pain. >> well, jake, this isn't about winning a fight against anyone. this is mr. trump defending himself. i think you said it right. it is very different than your typical politican. we have established and it is well known that donald trump is not your typical robotic politician with canned responsees. this family went up on a national political stage and attacked him personally and viciously. he just defended himself. the death of the khan family son, captain khan, a war hero, had nothing to do with donald trump. i'm sure you can understand why mr. trump is a little confused on where they are attacking hi

bush, cindy sheehan was parked outside his ranch for a very long time protesting him -- >> ifill: 2008earlier, i think it was maybe even 2004, and george w. bush said that is her right, that is her right to protest, that is her right to say anything she wants about me because this is america, actually. >> ifill: that's what america allows for. let's move on to something else donald trump had to say this weekend. he was asked this week by george stephanopoulos about his views of ukraine and russia and relationship with vladimir putin and this was his response. >> he's not going to go into ukraine, all right? you can mark it down, you can put it down, take it anywhere you want. >> he's already there isn't he. there in a certain way. i'm not there. you have obama there. that part of the world is a mess under obama with all of the strength you're talk about and the power of n.a.t.o. and all of this, in the mean time, he's going away -- he takes crimea -- >> reporter: but you said you might recognize that. >> i'm going to take a look at it but, you know, the people of crimea from what i've

. >> george bush had cindy sheehan, and he artfully approached it. >> you guys are awesome. thank you very much. >> thank you, megyn. >> thank you for your service. all the best to you. >>> well, the republican national convention also heard from a parent whose child was lost serving our country. pat smith. you've seen her right here on "the kelly file" among other places. the mother of benghazi terror attack victim sean smith, and she delivered an emotional address on the opening night of the rnc. but unlike khizr khan, her speech was met with harsh criticism in the media. the nation called it a cynical exploitation of her grief. msnbc referred to it as a spectacle so offensive, it was hard to even comprehend. one of their hosts suggesting that pat smith ruined the evening. and a writer for "gq" magazine tweeted out, quote, i would like to beat her to death. >> oh. >> yeah. joining me now, pastor darrell scott, ceo of the national diversity. eric guster and steve hayes. that's the problem is that you can't really take the high ground when it comes to the khan family when yo

cindy sheehan, this is how he responded to her criticism. i want to get your reaction on the other side. >> you know, listen, i summarize with mr. sheehan, he feshe feel strongly about her position. and she has every right in the world to say what she believes, this is america. she has a right to her position. and i thought long and hard about her position. i've heard her position from others, which is get out of iraq now. and, it would be, it would billion a mistake to the security of this country. and the ability to lay the foundations for piece in the long run if we were to do so. >> michael, incredibly different response than what we heard from donald trump in other words to the khan family. is this why we're in this moment right now? >> well, you saw with president bush what his immediate reaction to a question like that was, it was empathy, putting himself in the shoes in the people that were involved in this. donald trump's immediate response is defensiveness, attack people who attack him. that is his disposition, his temperament. tha

about the significantance of their loss before going on to dec defend her position, similar to cindy sheehanti war activity, whose son was killed in iraq. the trap that trump got into, arguing the point with the khan family is an unusual one. this is obviously a story that clinton would prefer not to be dealing with. but i think that so far, the damage that it is going to do to her candidacy has already been priced in and people upset about this are already very upset about it. barring some trump-style failure on her part, which i don't think she is going to have, i don't think this is going to be an additional problem that costs her votes going forward. >> real fast, ten seconds, do you think this type of litigation has legs? >> i think it definitely has legs in the sort of court of public opinion. and josh is right, that this is a problem for hillary clinton. she has dealt with it more skillfully, but the issue of the video in particular does get to the idea of a coverup in the administration and the initial days after the attack, and that's -- that is something that's a legitimate questio

bush had a longrunning disagreement with cindy sheehan. i believe one of the code pink pounders. she was adamant against the worry. even at the height of her criticism of him, president bush treated her with respect. i'm quite certain dorothy woods who is the surviving spouse of ty woods killed on the roof in benghazi has put out a hard-hitting video directed at secretary clinton for telling her to move on and dorothy wood said, i don't have to move on and you don't get to tell me to move on. i think they are both civilians who don't really know what they are doing. they should listen to their crit ics. >> i wonder what extent you're concerned about down ballot races when you see yet another controversy surrounding the trump campaign. let me read a few comments from folks up for re-election. kelly ayotte said i'm appalled. roy blunt, stop responding to every criticism. rob portman does not agree with donald trump's remarks. marco rubio. it's unfortunate, sergeant khan is a hero. t pat toomey. captain khan is a hero. you have people put in a tough position of figure out how to res

bush saying about cindy sheehan, she has the right to think what she wants, and paying respect to herher loss. hillary clinton has disputed what patricia smyth, who i know you interviewed yesterday who lost her son in benghazi, says hillary clinton told her. but otherwise says she can't imagine the grief. that really is what a lot of people, a lot of gold star families think is the appropriate response. what is curious just on a political level is, why keep this story alive? i know that that's something that a lot of top trump advisors are saying. why keep it alive? it's not a story that's good for you in any way. just drop it. but, mr. trump feels the way he feels and he wants to defend himself so here we are on day -- whatever -- five of this, still talking about it. >> yeah. yeah. jake tapper, thank you so much. i appreciate it. we'll see you at the top of the hour on "the lead." >>> as the president piles on to the criticism of mr. trump as he spoke from the white house today, look at polls with me. polls are stacking up against the republican nominee, the latest here, cnn/orc pol

cindy sheehan had made quite a few headlines about the iraq war after her son was killed. the way she conducted herself and the complaint she made. i sympathize with her. i disagree with her positions, but she is a gold star mother and has earned the right to express those. when you contrast that with mr. trump, that is where the veterans and gold star families get upset. that there was not due respect shown. that there was more implications that somehow, because of his muslim faith, that he practiced shield law. they made reference to the wife not speaking. they said she was too devastated by grief. i spoke to the khans before the speech. you could tell that she was still very upset so many years later. it is not an easy thing to go before a national audience and talk about losing a son or child to the war. that is the kind of criticism. those are the attacks people are saying and ending on not only donald trump, but the republican party -- saying this is out of line. host: retired military, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm am pretty

and saying don't you dare question these people's patriotism and then look at what he said about cindy sheehanhe's in pain. i understand why she's in pain. she's an american. she has every right to say whatever she wants to say. >> and after trump went after the khan family, i retweeted what president bush said about that. there's something about the american nature to be inclusive and welcoming and what is donald trump is trying to prove is that he can win without honoring that tradition. it's worrying to me. donald trump was my 16th choice for president in the republican primary. hillary was 19th. i probably preferred bernie sanders over hillary. >> are you still there? >> so are 65 million americans. >> that doesn't make me feel better. "the wall street journal" reports that former president george w. bush delivered a critique of donald trump's policies. yesterday he never used the nominee's name himself. bush told a private fund-raiser in cincinnati for senator bob portman that he had been reflecting on threats against american exceptionalism saying the u.s. should welcome islam you can wo

cindy sheehan had made quite a few headlines about the iraq war after her son was killed.of the way she conducted herself and the complaint she made. i sympathize with her. i disagree with her positions, but she is a gold star mother and has earned the right to express those. when you contrast that with mr. trump, that is where the veterans and gold star families get upset. that there was not due respect shown. that there was more implications that somehow, because of his muslim faith, that he practiced shield law. they made reference to the wife not speaking. they said she was too devastated by grief. i spoke to the khans before the speech. you could tell that she was still very upset so many years later. it is not an easy thing to go before a national audience and talk about losing a son or child to the war. that is the kind of criticism. those are the attacks people are saying and ending on not only donald trump, but the republican party -- saying this is out of line. host: retired military, welcome to the conversation. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm am prett