John McCain Responds to Donald Trump Remarks | TODAY

let's begin this half-hour though with more on that controversial comment made by Donald Trump in Iowa on Saturday he told a group that John McCain's not a war hero he's a war hero because he was captured a little while ago we spoke to Donald Trump on this show he blamed the media in large part for the controversy saying in fact that's on several occasions he did say that John McCain was a war hero he is now speaking with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC's Morning Joe and let's listen in undergone the prison experience in serving their country I'm a I'm in in the arena as TR used to say but in the case of many of our veterans when mr. Trump said that he prefers to be with people who were not captured well the great honor of my life it was to serve in the company of heroes I'm not a hero but those who were my senior ranking officers people like Colonel Bud a Congressional Medal of Honor winner and those that inspired us to do things that we otherwise wouldn't have been capable of doing those are the people that I think he owes an apology to and senator we are joined by viewers of today as well and Joe Scarborough has a question for you Joe you bring up a man who was a hero of mine colonel bud day an early supporter of him Fort Walton Beach we talked about what a great man he was but I remember by the participating in a 2004 Swift vet commercial against Senator John Kerry in questioning his military service it pained me when bud and a lot of other American heroes did that shouldn't we just keep our war heroes military records off the political tables once and for all I think so Joe and by the way I did strongly condemned that that was a heads you did oh yeah I John Kerry and I have had differences over the years so we have worked together on some issues like normalization of relations with Vietnam but I think the point here is that there's so many men and some women who served and sacrificed and happened to be be held prisoner and somehow to denigrate that in any way their service I think is offensive to most of our veterans I just like when there's a Lieutenant John Pett of Olano who was shot down during World War two he's 92 years old he came to my office thanks the Air Force we gave him one of his long overdue decorations 92 years old blind wept when we gave him that award he was a prisoner and was 90 pounds when he left when Patton's tank corps liberated the prison camp he was in those are the people frankly that I find it just totally inappropriate for mr. Trump to say that right he doesn't like to be with people who were captured captured what senator so you certainly are taking the high road and not making this about you you're right you're in the arena a lot of ugly things are said about people in the Ray in a day in and day out but talk about how you personally feel when you have someone who avoided the military draft to go fight in Vietnam criticizing you for making the decision to go and then when your connections could have gotten you out of active torture you chose not to take that route but to stay with your buddies until they all got out I think your you are old enough to remember the controversies and the wounds of the Vietnam War might have been the only war that you and I were ever knew much about where the veterans were not welcomed home and that's why I work so hard on the normalization of relations between our two countries full accounting for those who are missing in action in other words put this behind us and move forward and now we have a good relationship with Vietnam they've still got a long way to go but but what about Donald Trump though are you not resentful that a guy that didn't serve in Vietnam is criticizing someone like yourself who still is paying the price day in and day out for what you did and what you endured while in prison camp Joe I've put all that behind me for me they look back in anger at anyone is non-productive and our country is was divided in an almost unprecedented fashion during the Vietnam War when I came home I was shocked and so I've worked ever since to try to heal those wounds I spend time with veterans I do everything I can to help them as you know there major scandals going on I had two pieces of legislation that to try to help that issue and the suicide rate which is so high the best thing to do is put it behind us and move forward and just express our gratitude to those who have served and sacrificed who the real heroes they're the 55,000 names that are down on the wall engraved in black granite that I stopped by sometimes early in the morning and when the sun's going down and I wish fourth of July with the men and women who are serving in Afghanistan and I can tell you they are just wonderful better than my generation that is John McCain Senator John McCain speaking to Joe and mica over on Morning Joe taking the high road I think as Joe pointed out there's an expression kind of popular never interrupt your enemy whether it's a political enemy or a personal enemy when they're in the process of making the mistake and I think he's trying to keep above the fray and given Donald Trump's words about his preference for soldiers who weren't captured putting the focus on the heroism of all those other veterans who went through that so you could just saw that live his first reaction to that absolutely hello today fans thanks for checking out our youtube channel subscribe by clicking that button down there and click on any of the videos over here to watch the latest interviews show highlights and digital exclusives

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Keywords: nbc news, nbc, news, news channel, news station, newspaper, breaking news, us news, world news, politics, nightly news, current events, top stories, pop culture, business, health, Donald Trump, Donald Trump for president, Donald Trump video, Donald Trump annoucnement, GOP, Donald Trump GOP, Trump 2016, 2016, vote, election, Donald Trump Immigration, immigration, John McCain, Trump McCain, Trump comment

Id: sRNMTA3jJXM

Length: 6min 17sec (377 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2015