Senator John McCain broke his silence Monday in response to Donald Trump saying he prefers soldiers who weren’t captured during war.
The Arizona Senator, who was held as a prisoner of war for five years, said Trump doesn’t owe him an apology–he owes all prisoners one.
“But I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“When Mr. Trump said he prefers to be with people who are not captured — well, the great honor of my life was to serve in the company of heroes. I’m not a hero. But those who were my senior ranking officers…those that inspired us to do things we otherwise wouldn’t have been capable of doing — those are the people that I think he owes an apology to.”
Trump was savaged across both political lines over the weekend after he made controversial comments about McCain’s war service Saturday.
“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” Trump said. The backlash was fast and furious, with the majority of Republican candidates voicing fierce criticism against the real estate mogul.
Trump was also savaged on the Sunday shows, with pundits agreeing the McCain comment will serve as the beginning of the end for Trump’s candidacy.
Later Sunday, Trump penned an op-ed for USA Today, criticizing McCain the politician for not doing enough on veterans’ issues as a senator.