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‘I'll say what I want to say’: Donald Trump unrepentant after McCain comments stir anger

The Republican candidate stirred anger by commenting on the former prisoner of war: 'I like people who aren't captured'

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dismissed Senator John McCain's war record, saying: “I like people who weren’t captured.” Photo: Bloomberg
Associated Press

Once again, Donald Trump isn’t backing down from comments that have inflamed the Republican presidential race. And some of his rivals are no longer reluctant to repudiate him.

Republican presidential contenders Florida Senator Marco Rubio and former Texas Governor Rick Perry said Trump, with his latest bombast, had demonstrated he was not fit to be president.

At an Iowa candidate forum on Saturday, Trump dismissed Republican Senator John McCain’s reputation as a war hero, saying the navy pilot was merely taken captive after being shot down in Vietnam and “I like people who weren’t captured.”
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“I will say what I want to say,” Trump said on Sunday, claiming a strong record of supporting veterans and accusing McCain of failing them in Washington.

“I will do far more for veterans than John McCain has done for many, many years, with all talk no action,” Trump said on ABC’s This Week. “He’s on television all the time, talking, talking. Nothing gets done.”

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Republican Senator John McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Photo: AP
Republican Senator John McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Photo: AP
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