A Gold Star father who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation's highest civilian honor — slammed former President Donald Trump over his comments that the civilian honor is better than the Medal of Honor — the nation's high est military award — because the later is often given to soldiers wounded or killed in combat. “I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom," Trump said. "That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
" He added: "But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.
” Khizr Khan , father of fallen Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq saving the lives of his fellow soldiers, spoke with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Friday night and rebuked Trump's comments. "I was saddened and appalled.
That's typical Trump — hate and division. These awards are acknowledgment of a grateful nation, of the service of the recipient. And to create a division and a comparison, each award has its own significance and we must honor the recipients equally," he said.
Khan said that is "beyond Trump," who must "create controversy and divide and create hate." ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure Khan added he was "not surprised." "He was being himself," said Khan.
"He has inherent contempt of men and women serving in uniform and those who have served." Khan pointed to an instance in 2018 in Paris on the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, in which Trump called troops " suckers and losers ." And on Memorial Day in 2017, during a visit to Arlington National Cemetary, Khan pointed to Trump asking his chief of staff what's in it for the soldiers.
John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff, confirmed reporting that Trump turning to him that day as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Khan, whose son is also buried in that section, said Trump has "no comprehension what sacrifice and service to country means." "Time after time he has proven he has no capacity or capability — he is nothing but ego and appetite.
Everywhere you see him speak, that is what is on display," said Khan. Watch the clip below or at this link . The FBI has conducted a raid and search at the home of a Russian-born analyst who advised former President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, reported The Guardian on Friday.
Dimitri Simes, whose name came up over 100 times in former special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the election, told the Rappahannock News he was out of the country and wasn't notified of the search ahead of time. He was also not aware that he was the focus of a law enforcement investigation , he said. A spokesperson for the FBI said, “The FBI conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity.
We have no further comment as this is an ongoing matter.” Simes, speaking to Russian state media company Sputnik, suggested he is a target of political persecution, saying that the FBI search “clearly is an attempt to intimidate, not only somebody from Russia , but just anyone who goes against official policies and particularly against the deep state.” He added, “My suspicion is that instead of trying to get me to come to the United States and to interrogate me or even to arrest me, their real purpose is to make sure that I would not come back.
” ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure Echoing this sentiment, Simes' son posted on X, “The Biden regime is terrified of being called out over Ukraine and Israel.” Simes has worked as a political adviser since the 1970s when he first emigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union and worked with the Nixon administration. He helped craft foreign policy speeches for the Trump campaign, including one where Trump suggested closer cooperation with Russia.
The Mueller report specifically linked Simes to the work of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Ultimately, Mueller found ample evidence Trump accepted help from the Kremlin and obstructed justice but stopped short of recommending charges of criminal conspiracy against the then-sitting president, which led Trump to falsely claim that the report was a complete exoneration of his actions and showed there was "no collusion" with Russia. The national commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars on Friday denounced former President Donald Trump's comments that appeared to demean Medal of Honor recipients.
"On Thursday, former President Donald Trump spoke at an event where he made some flippant remarks about the Medal of Honor and the heroes who have received it," Al Lipphardt said in a statement . "These asinine comments not only diminish the significance of our nation’s highest award for valor, but also crassly characterizes the sacrifices of those who have risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty." "When a candidate to serve as our military's commander-in-chief so brazenly dismisses the valor and reverence symbolized by the Medal of Honor and those who have earned it, I must question whether they would discharge their responsibilities to our men and women in uniform with the seriousness and discernment necessary for such a powerful position," Lipphardt said.
"It is even more disappointing when these comments come from a man who already served in this noble office and should frankly already know better." ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure Trump who is notorious for making controversial statements about war heroes, including mocking the late Sen. John McCain's torture in a POW camp and allegedly calling Marines who fell in World War I " losers and suckers ," made the new remarks at an event honoring Miriam Adelson , the wife of deceased GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian, it’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor," said Trump. "But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers.
They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.” His comments provoked immediate outrage among a number of veterans, who saw it as dismissing the sacrifice made by war heroes.
A former top economist in the Obama administration poured cold water on Vice President Kamala Harris' economic plan to combat price-gouging at grocery stores. While year-over-year inflation has dropped to its lowest level in more than three years, food prices remain stubbornly high — 21 percent above where they were in 2021. Harris on Friday proposed a federal ban on price-gouging in the food industry .
“My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules,” Harris said at a campaign event, according to CNN . ALSO READ: Donald Trump deep in debt while foreign money keeps coming: disclosure Harvard University economist Jason Furman, who served in the Obama administration, told The New York Times, "Egg prices went up last year — it’s because there weren’t as many eggs, and it caused more egg production.” Laws targeting price gouging could backfire on consumers, he said.
“ This is not sensible policy , and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” he said. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.” Gavin Roberts, chair of Weber State University’s economics department who studied anti-price gouging laws passed during the pandemic, told CNN that in many places, people were incentivized to "buy goods more than they would if prices had risen.
” Harris' proposal, he said, is "more likely to maintain that status quo” as it could prevent new competitors from entering the market..
