An Iraq War veteran flatly rejected what he felt was a deflection by a Republican strategist during a tense segment on CNN on Tuesday night.
Paul Rieckhoff joined CNN’s “NewsNight” with Abby Phillip to discuss new bombshell reporting in The Atlantic that former Marine General John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump’s longest-running chief of staff, that Trump repeatedly called slain soldiers “losers.”
Rieckhoff noted that amid speculation a lot of anti-Trump reports have come from dubious sources, but not this time.
“He’s going on the record,” said Rieckhoff of Kelly. “You’re hearing his voice. He wants everybody in the world to hear his voice.”
Rieckhoff finished by noting that one of the only key figures in the first Trump administration not to speak out against the former president is retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, who served as Trump’s defense secretary from 2017 to 2019.
At this point, Scott Jennings, a senior political commentator who served as special assistant to former President George W. Bush, posed a question.
“What do you think of the way [President Joe] Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris have treated the families of the Abbey Gate soldiers?” asked Jennings.
But Rieckhoff swatted away the question.
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“I’m not going to go into a different topic. No-no,” he said, shaking his head. As Jennings started to protest, Rieckhoff continued. “If this was your show and you want to ask me questions we can line them up but that’s a total distraction.”
As Jennings again tried to protest, Rieckhoff again insisted, “No-no. I’m not going to take the bait on that.”
“I’ve been very vocal about — I’ve been very vocal about Abbey Gate and other issues. We’re talking about one singular issue,” said Rieckhoff.
