Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. on Friday defended former President Donald Trump's praise for a top GOP megadonor that included downplaying the importance of the Medal of Honor. "I don't think him complementing and saying a nice word about a person who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom is in any way denigrating those received military honors," Vance, a Ohio Republican, told reporters during a campaign stop in Milwaukee.
"They are two different awards. And think, the president was saying some nice things about a person he liked and that is a totally reasonable thing to do." Vance, who stressed that he had not seen the entirety of Trump's comments, added that the former president "loves our veterans.
" Trump was praising , a major Republican donor and wife of the late Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, when inflated the importance of one of the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, over the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. "I have to say Miriam, I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom, that's the highest award you can get as a civilian," Trump said on Thursday evening during a pro-Israel event where Miriam Adelson was in attendance. "It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version — it's actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers, they are even in very bad shap.