Arizona Senator and Navy Veteran Mark Kelly Calls Trump ‘Coward’ Over Medal of Honor Remarks

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly put former President Donald Trump on blast Wednesday over recent comments he made about the Medal of Honor award.

“What I hear there from Donald Trump are the words of a coward,” the former U.S. Navy captain turned lawmaker said during an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in response to comments Trump made on August 16 at a campaign event in New Jersey.

While comparing the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest civilian honor a president can bestow, and the U.S. military’s highest decoration, Congressional Medal of Honor, the Republican nominee for president said the former was better “because everyone that gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers.”

“They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead,” he added.

Kelly made his feelings known during the conversation with hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski: “A man who would not serve in the U.S. military makes up some excuse about you know bone spurs, got out of serving in Vietnam. And he clearly doesn’t understand us, he doesn’t understand members of our society who served in the military.”

Kelly was referring to Trump’s diagnosis of bone spurs, which was allegedly a favor from a doctor to Trump’s father, Fred Trump. He continues to face criticism for the medical deferment to this day. According to Sky News, Trump avoided service on five separate occasions.

Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Trump via email for comment.

“The concept of putting something before self is totally foreign to Donald Trump,” Kelly said.

Kelly was also asked about the “attacks” on Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his military service.

Republicans have been levelling criticisms at Walz’s military service history, with Republican vice presidential pick JD Vance accusing the governor of “stolen valor” for having allegedly “abandoned” his unit by retiring before it was deployed to Iraq in 2006.

“I’ve known him for a long time, since 2007,” Kelly said. “He’s a patriot, he served in the army national guard for 24 years, he’s a retired member of the guard, rising to the highest point in the enlisted ranks.”

He went on to describe Walz as a “good friend,” and said that Trump “doesn’t understand” Walz.

Kelly added he would “expect” Vance to understand Walz. He said that he was “very disappointed” in the comments that Vance has made about Walz and his service.

Newsweek has reached out to a representative for Kelly via email for comment.

Kelly has been the Democratic senator for Arizona since 2020, winning the seat previously held by the late Republican Sen. John McCain in a special election, and was re-elected in 2022. He was previously a potential vice presidential candidate for Harris. He flew combat missions during the Gulf War and later became a NASA astronaut in 1996, participating in four space shuttle missions.

Kelly’s career in public service was further shaped by his advocacy for gun control, particularly after his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, survived an assassination attempt in 2011.

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