John Kelly pushes back on Trump remarks on awards to civilians, service members: ‘Not even close’

Retired Gen. John Kelly — former President Trump’s ex-White House chief of staff — pushed back on Trump’s recent suggestion that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “much better” than the Medal of Honor, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper there’s “no equivalency of any kind” between the two honors.

The civilian award, Kelly said in the interview published Monday, is “given for some good works done or, in fewer cases, for other considerations, but they’re not even close.”

“Think of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Vietnam or Fallujah,” Kelly said. “The Medal of Honor is earned, not won, by incredibly brave actions on the battlefield under fire, typically by very young men who joined when others did not to defend their country.”

Kelly noted that military service members are prepared to die for their country and take the same oath as the country’s highest-ranking officials.

“To the service member, the oath is sacred and taken with the understanding that one could be seriously wounded, captured or killed in living up to the words,” Kelly said. “No president, member of Congress, judge or political appointee — and certainly no recipient of the Presidential Medal — will ever be asked to give life or limb to protect the Constitution.”

“The two awards cannot be compared in any way. Not even close,” he added.

The interview comes amid backlash to the GOP presidential nominee’s comments comparing the civilian award favorably to the Medal of Honor.

Trump spoke at an event attended by GOP mega-donor Miriam Adelson on Thursday and mentioned awarding her in 2018 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

“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.”

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley defended Trump against criticism in a Sunday interview.

“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.

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