This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Tulsa, Okla. • Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin on Wednesday addressed her son's recent arrest — which she called "the elephant in the room" — while stumping here for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. She accused President Obama of neglecting veterans and tied that to her son's recent domestic-violence charges.
"When my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate to the families who …feel these ramifications of PTSD," she told the crowd of around 8,000 people. "It is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we have a commander-in-chief who will respect them."
Track Palin, Sarah Palin's oldest son and a former member of the military, was arrested and charged with assault, interfering with a domestic-violence report and misconduct involving weapons in Wasilla, Alaska. The news broke as Palin announced her high-profile endorsement of Trump in Iowa.
Police responded Monday to Sarah Palin's Wasilla home, where Track Palin lives, after his girlfriend called 911 to report that Track Palin had punched her in the face. He was also, according to his girlfriend, carrying an AR-15 rifle, which she feared he would use to harm himself. Track Palin allegedly began yelling, "Do you think I won't do it?"
Palin said the United States should elect a president who will respect the military.
"It's a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder if … if they're respected anymore. It starts from the top," said Palin. "The question, though, it comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, 'Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we're trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?' "