"He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he got captured," Donald Trump said at the 2015 Family Leadership Summit.
After enraging the GOP field with that criticism of Arizona Sen. John McCain over the weekend, Donald Trump isn't letting up.
"The next sentence was 'he is a war hero,' but they never want to play it, and you don't want to play it," Trump told NBC's Matt Lauer.
"Well, why would you say the first ..." Lauer started to say.
"Excuse me," Trump responded.
"Why would you say ..." Lauer interjected.
"Hey, Matt. Savannah started it off by saying I said he wasn't a war hero. I didn't say that," Trump responded.
On Monday, Trump submitted an op-ed to USA Today where he spoke less about his comments and more about McCain's dealings with current soldiers and veterans.
"The reality is that John McCain the politician has made America less safe, sent our brave soldiers into wrong-headed foreign adventures, covered up for President Obama with the VA scandal and has spent most of his time in the Senate pushing amnesty. He would rather protect the Iraqi border than Arizona's," Trump said.
McCain responded on MSNBC Monday.
"Does Donald Trump owe you an apology," the MSNBC anchor asked.
"No I don't think so, but I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict," McCain said.
Trump's original attack was a response to McCain's accusation that Trump had "fired up the crazies" with his comments against Mexicans.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. ... They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some, I assume, are good people," Trump said at his campaign announcement.
Trump's "war hero" comments sparked immediate backlash from the GOP field. On Twitter, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal were just some of the presidential candidates criticizing Trump.
Trump responded to that criticism in Monday’s op-ed as well, saying that many of his competitors "had no business running for president" and that he didn't "need to be lectured by any of them."
This video includes images from Getty Images.
