Donald Trump
President Donald Trump received multiple deferments to avoid serving in the Vietnam War, but his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen revealed new details Wednesday about exact comments Trump made about this subject.
“You think I’m stupid, I’m not going to Vietnam,” Trump said, according to Cohen about the chances of him being deployed to the war. The real estate mogul received five deferments, at least one of which was reportedly due to a bone spur diagnosis.
Cohen also told lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that Trump asked him to “handle the negative press” pertaining to questions about the medical deferments that allowed him to avoid serving in the Vietnam War.
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Cohen explained Trump’s deferments to Congress by saying, “Mr. Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said that there was no surgery.”
“He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment.”
Several news outlets, including The New York Times, requested Trump’s medical records during the 2016 election.
Cohen also noted he found Trump’s comment about refusing to go to Vietnam “ironic” given that the president met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Hanoi this week to discuss potential denuclearization and sanctions.
Many Democratic officials and liberal figures have mocked Trump for his bone spurs deferment and blasted him for disrespecting war veterans and former prisoners of war like late Sen. John McCain. Trump also famously skipped a visit to Arlington Cemetery last Veterans’ Day and claimed he was too busy with other matters as his excuse.
Trump also famously feuded in 2016 with a Gold Star Muslim family whose Muslim-American son died in Iraq in 2004. The family criticized the then-candidate during the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Trump mocked Cohen from Vietnam on Twitter Wednesday, noting his former lawyer has been disbarred.
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