US senator John McCain has issued a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump’s medical deferments which kept him from serving in the Vietnam War.
In an interview with C-SPAN last week, Mr McCain lamented that the military “drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur”.
TONIGHT – @SenJohnMcCain talks about the Vietnam War's legacy on C-SPAN, at 6 & 10pm ET. pic.twitter.com/WnZT0n8Mcn
— American History TV (@cspanhistory) October 22, 2017
One of Mr Trump’s five draft deferments came as a result of a physician’s letter stating he suffered from bone spurs in his feet. Mr Trump’s presidential campaign described the issue as a temporary problem.
Mr McCain spent six years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967.
Mr Trump derided Mr McCain’s service in 2015, stating his fellow Republican was not a “war hero”, and adding: “I like people who weren’t captured.”
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