President Donald Trump has signed a bill naming a post office for Capt. Humayun Khan, the slain soldier whose family Trump feuded with during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The law dubs a US Postal Service facility in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Captain Humayun Khan Post Office. It follows an extended controversy from the summer before Trump’s victory.
Khizr Khan, the late captain’s father, delivered a fiery speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention alongside his wife, criticizing the then-Republican nominee for president. At the time, Trump responded forcefully to the Gold Star family, suggesting wrongly that his wife, Ghazala Khan, might not have been “allowed” to speak and pushing back on Khizr Khan’s assertions about the candidate.
In a statement, however, Trump maintained that Khan was “a hero to our country.”
The bill Trump signed into law Friday, more than two years removed from the controversy, was introduced by retiring Rep. Tom Garrett, a Virginia Republican. It passed both chambers of Congress by unanimous consent.
Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Virginia Democrats, hailed the measure becoming law in a joint statement.
“With the dedication of this post office, we’re showing the Khan family that we’re forever grateful for his service and sacrifice for our country,” their statement read.
Humayun Khan, who was 27, was overseeing soldiers on June 8, 2004, in Iraq when he was killed. He was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart posthumously.
