Khizr Khan, father of slain Army captain, appears in Clinton ad

October 23, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

(PHOTO)

By Lisa Mascaro

Tribune Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON - Among the many striking moments of the presidential campaign was the father of a slain Army soldier speaking out against Donald Trump at the Democratic convention - and Trump’s subsequent attacks on Khizr Kahn’s family and its Muslim faith.

Khan appeared Friday in a Hillary Clinton ad in which the grief-stricken parent tells the story of his 27-year-old son, Capt. Humayun Khan, who died fighting a suicide bomber in Iraq.

Khan describes the harrowing scene when his son threw himself on the bomber, saving his fellow troops. He was awarded military honors.

“I want to ask Mr. Trump, would my son have a place in your America?” he said.

The ad is short, simple, and heart-wrenching, as the elder Khan makes his way through the family home, picking over pictures of his son.

Trump backers will not likely be swayed by the spot. Trump has called for a ban on Muslim immigrants from foreign hot spots like Syria, and his supporters largely approve of those proposals.

But Clinton is trying to shore up her closing arguments, particularly with women and independent voters who could be moved by the ad.

She has said Capt. Khan and his family, who are immigrants and became citizens, “represent the best of America.”

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PHOTO (for help with images, contact 312-222-4194): TRUMP-KHAN