Gov. Scott Walker in Iowa (Photo: Asya Akca)
On the campaign trail in Iowa this weekend, Governor Scott Walker came to the defense of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), after Donald Trump questioned the former presidential nominee’s status as a war hero.
Speaking at a conservative forum in Iowa on Saturday, Trump said McCain is “a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump’s criticism of the former GOP presidential nominee came after McCain raised questions about Trump’s own candidacy. McCain said previously that Trump had “fired up the crazies” with comments about immigrants during a recent rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
Governor Walker, who launched his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last week, told a crowd in Sioux City, Iowa this weekend “somebody else raised a question about John McCain today. I’m not going to comment on his policies. I just want to say something unequivocally – John McCain is an American war hero.”
Speaking with reporters later, Walker said “We talk every day about the men and women who wear the uniform – someone like John McCain and many others like him who I have met across the country are indeed American heroes…to me, if someone goes after someone personally like that, I’m going to denounce that.”
Walker had previously said he would not talk about other Republican candidates on the campaign trail, but felt compelled to comment after the personal attack on McCain.