He touted himself as the "King of MAGA" at the all-day Conservative American Freedom Tour in Austin, led by a host of prominent Trump allies including his eldest child Donald Trump Jr.
In recounting a story about arriving in Iraq under cover of darkness, the former President praised Air Force One’s pilots as “better looking than Tom Cruise” in a reference to the actor’s character in the film Top Gun.
He also asked the crowd if he should have awarded himself the Congressional medal of honor for being “so brave” during the landing.
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The ex-President then compared his story to the infamous incidents of MSNBC anchor Brian Williams and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both being found to have embellished details in their respective accounts of flying in Iraq and Bosnia while under fire.
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“Lyin' Brian, remember that son of a gun? Lyin’ Brian - the plane was shot,” Trump told the crowd of Williams. “Hillary had the same thing, right? Crooked Hillary. There were bullets all over her helicopter. Turned out to be a false story.”
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While running for President in 2008, Clinton had claimed to have arrived in Bosnia “under sniper fire” in March 1996. However, footage from the day shows her being greeted in relative peace in a pre-planned welcoming ceremony.
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Williams’ story of being hit by enemy fire in Iraq in 2003 cost him his job as the anchor of NBC Nightly News. He has publicly excused himself for the matter and since went on to lead a show on the Left-wing network MSNBC, though the veteran journalist recently retired after decades on the air.
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Taking a swing at the network Williams joined, Trump said: “Lyin’ Brian lost his job over it. He went to MS-DNC, right? Then I guess he got fired.”
“He’ll show up someplace. They never - you know, cockroaches you can never kill them,” the ex-president remarked to the audience’s laughter. Trump’s own story of flying to Iraq did not feature any exchange of bullets, though the ex-President gave no detail about the time and place of his trip.
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He notably visited U.S. troops located in Iraq during a surprise trip in December 2018.
The trip caused a diplomatic uproar after the Trump Administration reportedly failed to inform the Iraqi government - except for its prime minister, who was informed two hours before Trump’s arrival.
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“When we landed in Air Force One, the windows were all dark. The pilots are great - you know they say the greatest pilots are the ones that fly Air Force One and all of the different things having to do with presidential elections including the helicopters,” Trump told supporters on Saturday.
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