John McCain: Trump owes apology to families of POWs

Senator John McCain urged Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to apologise to US military families for saying prisoners of war are not heroes in his first direct response to remarks by Trump.

Trump drew a barrage of criticism over the weekend after telling a Republican forum he did not think McCain, a US navy fighter pilot imprisoned for more than five years in Hanoi after being shot down, was a hero because he was captured.

“He’s not a war hero,” Trump told religious conservatives in Iowa. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”

In an MSNBC interview, McCain said he did not think Trump owed him an apology, but did owe one to the wider target of his remarks.

“I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving our country,” McCain said.

Trump refused to apologise for his remarks about McCain’s war record despite a chorus of criticism from his own party, including calls from the other candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination for him to drop out of the race.

McCain said he has had a “flood of calls” from military veterans about Trump’s remarks and “they are not happy”.