In a Washington Post interview Thursday morning, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg accused President Trump of using his "privileged status to fake a disability" to dodge the draft during the Vietnam War.
The Democratic presidential candidate and military veteran also talked about his own service record, drawing a contrast with the president, who has said he was exempted from the military draft because of bone spurs in his heel diagnosed in 1968.
"This is somebody, who I think it is fairly obvious to most of us, took advantage of the fact that he was a child of multimillionaire in order to pretend to be disabled so that somebody could go to war in his place," Buttigieg said of Mr. Trump.
"I don't have a problem standing up to somebody who was you know working on season 7 of Celebrity Apprentice when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan," Buttigieg also said.
During the presidential campaign, in July 2015, the Trump campaign said Mr. Trump had a "medical deferment for bone spurs on both heels of his feet." The statement also said that Mr. Trump entered the military draft lottery and had received number 356 out of 365.
"When the draft occurred, they never got near his number, and he was therefore exempt from serving in the military," the Trump campaign said in a statement at the time. "Although he was not a fan of the Vietnam War, yet another disaster for our country, had his draft number been selected he would have proudly served and he is tremendously grateful to all those who did."