Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, an Iraq war veteran, has condemned Donald Trump’s suggestion that American soldiers stole funds intended for Iraqi reconstruction, calling the presumptive Republican nominee’s comments a dishonor.
“As a military man himself, the Congressman echoes the sentiments of Senators Graham and Ayotte,” Kinzinger’s spokeswoman Maura Gillespie told THE WEEKLY STANDARD in an email. “Our service men and women sacrifice everything so we here at home can have anything. Attacking them is a dishonor.”
Kinzinger joins a small number of his fellow Republican members of Congress in condemning Trump’s statements. Senators Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Dan Sullivan of Alaska criticized Trump for his remarks Wednesday, though a number of other senators refused to comment.
At a rally Tuesday, Trump remarked that the soldiers responsible for giving out “baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars” in Iraq were “living very well right now, whoever they may be.”
While his campaign claimed afterward that the businessman was referring to Iraqi soldiers, American troops, not Iraqi troops, were tasked with delivering reconstruction money in Iraq.
