Businessman Donald Trump says if there was a misunderstanding over his recent remarks about Sen. John McCain of Arizona, he would take it back.
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, in the final minute of Mr. Trump’s appearance Monday evening on “The O’Reilly Factor,” gave Mr. Trump the floor to say something to Mr. McCain “man to man, right to him, right now.”
“Well, I’m going to say this: I have respect for Senator McCain,” Mr. Trump said. “I used to like him a lot. I supported him; I raised a lot of money for his campaign against President Obama, and certainly if there was a misunderstanding, I would totally take that back.”
“But hopefully I said it correctly, and certainly shortly thereafter I said it correctly,” Mr. Trump continued. “I would like him, however, to do something with the 15,000 people that were in Phoenix about illegal immigration. They are being decimated. These people are being decimated, and I would love to see him do a much better job taking care of the veterans, Bill.”
Mr. Trump has drawn fire from the GOP for saying over the weekend that Mr. McCain, who was held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years, is a war hero because “he was captured; I like people that weren’t captured, OK?”
Mr. Trump later clarified to reporters that if someone is a prisoner, he considers them a war hero, aside from Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was charged with desertion earlier this year.
Mr. McCain said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he doesn’t think Mr. Trump owes him an apology, but that he might owe an apology to “to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country.”
Mr. McCain, who had told The New Yorker that Mr. Trump had “fired up the crazies” with his recent rally in Arizona, also said he thought that was a term of endearment.
Local reports put the crowd size for Mr. Trump’s event inside the Phoenix Convention Center at several thousand, but Mr. Trump has said on social media that officials didn’t want to admit they broke the fire code by allowing 12,000 to 15,000 people inside a room with a capacity of around 4,000.
The campaign had been asked to move to a larger venue to accommodate the thousands of people who wanted tickets, with thousands getting turned away because of fire regulations, CNN reported.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.