Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling on Sunday said that President Donald Trump’s treatment of a retired Navy admiral is “disgusting” after the president claimed that the former SEAL had taken too long to kill Osama bin Laden.
During an interview with Fox News, Trump lashed out at retired Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, who lead the effort to take down the terrorist mastermind.
“He’s a Hillary Clinton backer!” the president insisted. “It would be nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner.”
Hertling later told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield that Trump had insulted a “true servant” of the U.S. Constitution.
“I’d use one word,” Hertling said. “And that’s ‘disgusting.’ You know, everyone knows Bill McRaven as being the guy that led the bin Laden raid.”
“Having someone like the president of the United States, a man that holds an office that’s supposed to represent all people and who says he supports the military, to just dismiss this great American hero as a guy who was a Hillary Clinton lover, which is patently not true, is just really disgusting,” he explained.
Hertling also reflected on Trump’s decision not to attended Veteran’s Day services at Arlington National Cemetery.
“It’s a factor of leadership,” Hertling insisted. “Leaders know what to do, where to be, what things to say. And in all three of those things, I think the president is currently a failure.”
