Whatley defends Trump against criticism of Medal of Honor remarks

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley on Sunday defended former President Trump against backlash to his recent remarks denigrating the Medal of Honor.

“Well, look, there is nobody who supports the military, our veterans’ communities and all of the military families more than President Trump,” Whatley told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday” when asked about Trump’s remarks.

“And he is extremely grateful for their service every single day,” Whatley added.

Whatley disagreed with Stirewalt’s suggestion that Trump’s remarks were “a pretty substantial mistake,” given the Trump campaign’s efforts to accuse the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, of “stolen valor.”

The Trump campaign has attacked Walz for resigning, after 24 years, from the Army National Guard months before his unit was deployed overseas. The GOP ticket has also bashed Walz for suggesting in a resurfaced video that he used combat weapons “in war” during his service. The Harris campaign has since said Walz “misspoke” during the video.

“The questions that we see regarding stolen valor, I think, are serious, and we’re going to continue to have those conversations until Governor Waltz comes out and actually apologizes for the statements and misrepresentations that he has made,” Whatley said.

The interview comes as the former president has once again found himself at the center of a firestorm over his comments about veterans after he compared a civilian award favorably to the Medal of Honor.

Trump on Thursday spoke at an event at his Bedminster, N.J., property focused on combating antisemitism, which was also attended by GOP mega-donor Miriam Adelson. During his remarks, Trump spoke about giving Adelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2018.

“That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the congressional Medal of Honor, but a civilian version,” Trump told attendees. 

“It’s actually much better, because everyone who gets the congressional Medal of Honor, that’s soldiers, they’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman,” Trump said with a chuckle, eliciting applause from the crowd. “And they’re rated equal.”

A clip of Trump’s comments quickly ricocheted around social media, with Democrats and Vice President Harris quickly seizing on the remarks to attack the former president’s views on veterans and wounded Americans.

“For him to insult Medal of Honor recipients, just as he has previously attacked Gold Star families, mocked prisoners of war, and referred to those who lost their lives in service to our country as ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ should remind all Americans that we owe it to our service members, our country, and our future to make sure Donald Trump is never our nation’s commander in chief again,” Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement at the time.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

Brett Samuels contributed.