Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski went on CNN on Monday to defend his old boss and attacked Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim U.S. soldier who sacrificed his life in the Iraq war.

As they discussed Trump’s attack on Khan for questioning the Republican presidential nominee’s anti-Muslim policies, Lewandowski pointed out that Kahn was the one who started the fight.

“If Donald Trump was the president, Capt. Kahn would still be alive today because we never would have entered the Iraq war in the first place,” Lewandowski declared. “This is something that the Kahn family decided to engage in by going to the Democratic convention and telling their story.”

CNN’s John Berman questioned why Trump would also attack Kahn’s mother for not saying anything at the convention.

“When someone attacks you publicly in front of the stage of millions of people, you have the ability to respond,” Lewandowski insisted.

“She didn’t say a word!” Hillary Clinton proxy, Christine Quinn said. “This is ridiculous. It is outrageously un-American.”

“He does have the ability when someone attacks him personally and accuses him of something… he has the ability to fight back,” Lewandowski added that the Kahn family “engaged in this discussion to begin with.”

“Their son is a hero and every person who has ever died fighting for our country and their families are heroes,” Lewandowski said. “The difference is we’ve got 7,000 soldiers who died, $6 trillion wasted overseas that if Donald Trump was the president, we would never have had. And Capt. Kahn would be alive today.”