|
 Asked on ABC's "This Week" if he owed McCain an apology for saying
the former prisoner in North Vietnam was only considered a war hero
because he was captured, Trump said, "No, not at all." He again
blasted McCain's support for fellow veterans.
"John McCain has failed," Trump said, citing delays in healthcare
for veterans. "I believe that I will do far more for veterans than
John McCain has done for many, many years, with all talk no action
... Nothing gets done."
McCain, a Navy fighter pilot, was imprisoned and tortured in a Hanoi
prison for five years during the Vietnam War after being shot down.
Trump drew fire on Saturday for telling an audience in Iowa that
McCain was "not a war hero," and got that distinction only because
he was captured, although he later softened his remarks.
Republican commentators said the latest remarks could mark the
beginning of the end of his presidential bid.
Trump rejected calls by fellow Republicans that he drop out of the
presidential race and said they were simply upset about his lead in
recent polls in North Carolina, Nevada and other states.
On Saturday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said
Trump's comments were "shameful".
"And so is the fact that it took so long for his fellow Republican
candidates to start standing up to him,” Clinton was quoted as
saying in Politico.
Two fellow Republican presidential candidates, Texas Governor Rick
Perry and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, speaking on different Sunday
talk shows, said Trump's remarks made him unfit to serve as
commander in chief.
[to top of second column] |
"This is not just an insult to John McCain, who clearly is a war
hero and a great man," Rubio told CNN's "State of the Union." "It's
not just absurd. It's offensive. It's ridiculous. And I do think it
is a disqualifier as commander in chief."
Perry told NBC's "Meet the Press" the Republican Party needed to
reach out to diverse populations, not drive them away, citing
Trump's recent, widely criticized comments about Mexican immigrants.
Trump predicted he would win the Hispanic vote if he won the
Republican presidential nomination.
Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski did not indicate the candidate
would be changing tack, or holding back.
"Donald Trump is in first place in the national polls," Lewandowski
said Sunday in a telephone interview from Windham, New Hampshire. "I
think our strategy has worked out so far."
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Michael Flaherty; Editing
by Ros Russell and Andrea Ricci)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
