A Donald Trump spokeswoman said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee wasn’t referring to U.S. troops when he said at a rally Tuesday that soldiers involved in reconstruction efforts in Iraq “were living quite well” after stealing millions of dollars.

“Mr. Trump was referring to Iraqi soldiers,” Hope Hicks told NBC News Tuesday evening after he had made the remarks at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“How about bringing baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars, and handing it out,” Trump told the crowd. “I want to know, who were the soldiers who had that job. Because I think they are living very well right now, whoever they may be.”  

Trump’s comments appeared to be referring to instances where the U.S. was handing  out money to military commanders in Iraq and some occurrences reported  by the Center for Public Integrity, which reported cases of corruption.  

Trump’s remarks came on the 241st birthday of the U.S. Army. Trump appeared to make similar comments  back in September.

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EricGarcia@cqrollcall.com


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