Democratic Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.) is standing by his comments that President Donald Trump's chief of staff, retired four-star Gen. John Kelly, is "a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear."
Gutiérrez, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, says his rebuke was directed at Kelly as a politician, and not as a general.
"The general is not a general today," Gutiérrez told the Washington Examiner. "He’s a politician. He works for Donald Trump and now supports Donald Trump’s xenophobic, racist policies, and he’s carrying them out as his chief of staff. I’m not talking about him as a general; I’m talking about him as a politician."
Kelly became Gutiérrez’s target for criticism after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Tuesday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration amnesty program would be rescinded. Guriérrez came out after the announcement, expressing his belief that the decision went against what Kelly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus while serving as head of Homeland Security.
Gutiérrez did not appear to separate Kelly the political figure from Kelly the general during his rebuke Tuesday.
"General Kelly is a hypocrite who is a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear," Gutiérrez said following the Tuesday announcement.
This conversation between Kelly and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus took place in July at a private meeting, according to Gutiérrez. Many Democrats claim Kelly had endorsed the goals of DACA, but raised doubts about its legality.
Gutiérrez told reporters after the meeting that Kelly said he was fighting for DACA, and the reason nothing had gone wrong with the program was because of his presence as secretary of Homeland Security.
Gutiérrez also noted that Kelly did not come to the defense of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) after Trump attacked his military service during the campaign.
"Where was General Kelly when John McCain was said not to be a hero by the man that he works for," Gutiérrez asked. "So let’s not have double standards here."
Gutiérrez also discussed an incident with Trump and another military family during the 2016 campaign. Trump criticized parents of an Army captain who was killed in action after the couple denounced Trump at the Democratic National Convention. He said on Twitter that Khizr and Ghazala Khan "viciously attacked" him. Trump was widely critized for his attacks on the family who had lost a son in combat.
Gutiérrez’s comments regarding Kelly have been compared to Trump’s, and he has also been criticized for attacking the father of a fallen military member. The Democratic lawmaker, however, claims they are unrelated instances.
"I didn’t bring up his son," Guritérrez said. "I didn’t bring up his son. What I said was that he lied, and that’s the truth."
"You can interpret it," Gutiérrez told the Examiner. "But to me, he looked me in the face and said that he was the one that was going to support the DREAMers and he didn’t do it. He went to work for the man. Here’s what he said to me, so that we’re clear: he said, ‘I love them, I like them, I admire them, I want to protect them,’ and then he went to work for the man who said ‘you’ve got six months to pack your bags and leave. Sorry.’"
Many service members would take strong offense to Guritérrez' assessment that "the general is not a general today." U.S. Marines are well known for their declaration, "Once a Marine, always a Marine."