McCain implies Trump evaded military service during Vietnam
WASHINGTON- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) implied that President Donald Trump had evaded military service during the Vietnam War during a television interview Sunday.
“One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur,” McCain told C-SPAN3’s American History TV.
“That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve,” McCain added.
McCain did not specifically mention Trump.
The New York Times last year reported that Trump received four draft deferments while a student in college and upon graduation in 1968 received an additional deferment due to foot problems.
McCain is a former naval aviator and decorated Vietnam Veteran. He spent five-and-a-half years in a North Vietnamese prison camp following capture that ensued after his plane was shot down over Hanoi in Oct. 1967.
Trump at the July 2015 Family Leadership Summit said of McCain’s wartime service: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
McCain is a frequent Trump critic. In a speech last week the six-term senator cautioned against acquiescing to nationalist and isolationist sentiments many believe have gained momentum during the Trump Administration.
This article is republished with permission from Talk Media News
Bryan is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government.
His work includes coverage of the election of Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions-as well as that of the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.