Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, in an interview that aired Sunday, said President Trump had slandered American troops by considering pardoning servicemen accused of war crimes — and said the proposal threatened to undermine the country’s “legal and moral” foundations.
“When you serve, you are agreeing to serve the Constitution and uphold the law and, frankly, his idea that being sent to fight makes you automatically into some kind of war criminal is a slander against veterans that could come only from somebody who never served,” the South Bend, Ind., mayor said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
BUTTIGIEG SLAMS TRUMP ON AVOIDING VIETNAM WAR, RIPS BIDEN ON ’94 CRIME BILL
Buttigieg, an Afghanistan War veteran, was responding to remarks Trump made Friday in which the president said he was “looking” at possible pardons. The New York Times had first reported Trump was considering granting pardons to soldiers accused of war crimes around Memorial Day.
“Some of these soldiers are people that have fought hard and long,” Trump told reporters. “You know, we teach them how to be great fighters, and then when they fight, sometimes they get really treated very unfairly.”
Trump said he was considering pardons for “two or three of them” but said he hadn’t yet made a decision. – READ MORE