LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' freshman U.S. senator, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Tuesday Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump should apologize for criticizing the parents of an American soldier killed by a roadside bomb 12 years ago.
Khizr Khan, in a tribute to his son at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia last week, criticized Trump and said the GOP nominee sacrificed nothing. Trump in turn said he was "viciously attacked" by Khan and questioned why Khan's wife stood silent during her husband's speech.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the Khans, as parents of a fallen solder, had earned the "utmost respect," but that the back-and-forth between Trump and the Khans kept the campaign from moving on.
"I think he should express his regret and apologize for what he said to the Khans," Cotton said after speaking to about 150 people at the Political Animals Club in Little Rock.
After a series of comments by Trump about Mexicans, Muslims, a handicapped journalist and parents of a dead soldier — among other inflammatory remarks — Cotton wouldn't say when enough is enough. He likened Trump's comments to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's remarks about computer equipment kept at her home.
"I mean, she told five different lies about her email server and then this weekend she lied about the lies that she told," Cotton said.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.