Three GOP senators sounded off Wednesday on Donald Trump’s comment that American soldiers stole money intended for Iraqi reconstruction.
Lindsey Graham blasted Trump, saying the GOP nominee’s remark tainted the entire U.S. military. “If I were running for commander-in-chief, I wouldn’t make such a statement,” Graham told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “It taints the finest fighting force in the world.”
The South Carolina senator said that while there have been instances of American military personnel stealing Iraqi reconstruction funds, it was unfair to the majority of troops to focus on these cases.
“One hundred and fifteen have been court-martialed since 2005 for being involved in embezzlement and theft. Out of, you know, hundreds of thousands. I think it’s the wrong thing to emphasize,” Graham said.
At a rally Tuesday, Trump speculated that American soldiers who delivered “baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars” in Iraq were “living very well right now, whoever they may be.”
In response to backlash, Trump’s campaign claimed that the businessman “was referring to Iraqi soldiers.” However, American troops, not Iraqi troops, were responsible for delivering reconstruction money.
“I didn’t interact much with the Iraqi Military during my deployment, and they never handled any of the cash that we paid out,” Corbin Reiff, a veteran who dealt with U.S. compensation efforts in Iraq, told TWS on Wednesday.
Graham was joined in his condemnation of Trump’s remark by Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. “Our servicemen and women make great sacrifices in defense of our freedom each and every day, and they deserve our thanks and support, not attacks,” Ayotte told TWS in a written statement.
Alaska senator Dan Sullivan, who currently serves as a Marine Corps reservist, also criticized Trump’s comments. “As a guy who is still serving, I know that Marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen, Coast Guardsmen—99.9 percent of them serve admirably,” Sullivan said. “They all serve with honor and distinction. Comments like that aren’t reflective of the true nature of our men and women in uniform.”
Although Graham, Ayotte, and Sullivan criticized Trump, most Republican senators declined to comment on Trump’s remark as they entered and exited a campaign meeting at the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington, D.C.
Jeff Sessions, the only senator to endorse Trump during the primaries, said, “I don’t think there’s any widespread abuse within the military.” But the Alabama senator would neither condemn nor defend Trump’s remark.
“No comment,” said Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, himself a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, when asked if theft among U.S. troops was commonplace.
Arizona senator and Vietnam war veteran John McCain also brushed off questions. “I’m honestly trying to get ahold of my ride,” McCain said as he paced the sidewalk.
“I have no earthly idea what he’s talking about,” said Texas senator John Cornyn.
“I literally have nothing—no knowledge, no comment,” said Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson.
“All I can say is I haven’t read the comment myself,” said Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy. “Every now and then, I’ve had somebody represent a comment to me that isn’t quite the way I would have otherwise read it.”
After a TWS reporter read Trump’s remark aloud to Cassidy, he replied: “I suspect this will be not the last I hear of it. Let me just kind of pull it together. I’ll have a comment, I promise.”
