Veterans call on Trump to show respect

More than 50 veterans released a statement Sunday calling on presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to show respect for the country’s veterans and donate the millions of dollars he allegedly raised during a fundraiser several months ago.

“Donald Trump recently discovered a new love for America’s veterans, promising that a Trump administration will ‘treat them really, really well,’” the statement released by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign said.

{mosads}”Yet after a publicity stunt earlier this year when he ditched a GOP debate to hold an event on behalf of veterans, his campaign still hasn’t distributed more than half of the $6 million dollars it allegedly raised.”

The statement signed by veterans, including Democratic Reps. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) and Seth Moulton (Mass.), said Trump’s campaign doesn’t even know where the money raised during that event went.

Earlier this year, Trump skipped the seventh Republican presidential debate over disagreements with the host network, Fox News. Instead, he held a fundraiser to raise money for military veterans.

A report in March said Trump had donated less than half of the $6 million he raised during the late January fundraiser. About $3 million was given to 24 charities the presumptive nominee chose, according to the report.

The statement released Sunday says this is “part of a long pattern of the real Donald J. Trump, who for over a decade tried to get disabled veterans, legally operating as street vendors, thrown off of Fifth Avenue in New York City.”

“He said that these Americans, who were simply trying to earn a living in the country they gave so much to defend, were ‘clogging and seriously downgrading the area.’”

It also ripped Trump’s foreign policy proposals, saying his policies would put the country’s future veterans at risk.

“Republican and Democratic national security professionals agree that a Trump administration would make America dangerously less safe while reducing its standing and influence in the world,” the statement said.

“His embrace of both military adventurism and isolationism, and his support of the use of torture will not only recklessly place our troops in harm’s way, but will dramatically increase the risk to our service members serving in operations overseas.”

The statement called Trump’s policies “detrimental” to people who serve the country.

“He can’t be trusted, by our veterans or anyone else,” it said.

“It’s time for Donald Trump to stop using vets as political props, donate the rest of the money he raised and build a real understanding of the needs and concerns of the men and women who have served America.”

Earlier Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on Trump to apologize to prisoners of war for comments he made earlier this year, saying Trump needs to “heal many of the wounds” he’s opened during his campaign. Last summer, Trump mocked McCain’s military service saying, “I like people who weren’t captured.”

“There’s a body of American heroes who would like to see him retract that statement,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”