AP/Amanda Macias/Business Insider
John McCain in 1965 with his squadron and T-2 Buckeye trainer.
"I never liked him after that, because I don't like losers," Trump said.
He then dug into McCain's military career. Trump said the US Navy veteran imprisoned for nearly six years in Vietnam was not a "war hero." He quickly caveated that statement.
"He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured," Trump said.
Amid the backlash, Trump has accused the media of taking his remarks about McCain's military record out of context in an interview with NBC's "Today" show.
McCain has talked and written extensively about his service and his experience as a prisoner of war.
On October 26, 1967, then-US Navy Lieutenant Commander John McCain's A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over Vietnam.
"I reacted automatically the moment I took the hit and saw my wing was gone. I radioed, 'I'm hit,' reached up, and pulled the ejection seat handle. I struck part of the airplane, breaking my left arm, my right arm in three places, and my right knee, and I was briefly knocked unconscious by the force of the ejection."
Writing in 2000 memoir "Faith Of My Fathers," this is how McCain describes the moment he became a prisoner of war for nearly six years. He continues:
"I landed in the middle of the lake (Truc Bach Lake), in the middle of the city, in the middle of the day. An escape attempt would have been challenging."
Wearing approximately 50 pounds of gear and not being able to use either of his broken arms to deploy his life vest, McCain sank to the bottom of the shallow lake. He managed to inflate his life vest by pulling the plastic toggle with his teeth and shot to the surface. Floating in the lake, McCain fell in and out of consciousness until a group of Vietnamese villagers pulled him out of the water.
Before the angry mob could do more harm, Vietnamese soldiers arrived and transported McCain to Hoa Lo, a French-built prison.
"As the massive steel doors loudly clanked shut behind me, I felt a deeper dread than I have ever felt since ... for the next few days I drifted in and out of consciousness. When awake, I was periodically taken to another room for interrogation. "
Wikipedia/Amanda Macias/Business Insider
An aerial view of the Hanoi prison.
"For four days I was taken back and forth to different rooms. Unable to use my arms, I was fed twice a day by a guard. I vomited after the meals, unable to hold down anything but a little tea. I remember being desperately thirsty all the time, but I could drink only when the guard was present for my twice-daily feedings."
McCain, who was forced to lay in a puddle of his own vomit and other bodily wastes, became feverish and lost consciousness frequently and for longer periods of time.
One day the camp officer, who the PO Ws called Bug and who McCain referred to as "a mean son of b----," entered his filthy cell to examine his injuries.
"Are you going to take me to the hospital? I asked.
"No," he replied. "It's too late."
"Take me to the hospital and I'll get well."
"It's too late," he repeated.
Hopeless, McCain assumed we would die and began mentally prepping himself of his approaching death; but a few hours later, Bug rushed into his cell and shouted: "Your father is a big admiral. Now we take you to the hospital."
AP John McCain is administered to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner of war in the fall of 1967.
Meanwhile, McCain's interrogators continued to pressure him for more information and threatened to terminate his medical treatment if he did not cooperate.
"I gave them the names of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed."
Since McCain could not feed himself, a young boy was assigned to feeding him. The boy forced three spoonfuls of food down McCain's throat twice a day. There were usually leftovers, which the boy helped himself to in front of McCain.
Two months into his captivity, McCain underwent an operation on his leg.
"The Vietnamese filmed the operation, I haven't a clue why. Regrettably, the operation wasn't much of a success. The doctors severed all the ligaments on one side of my knee, which has never fully recovered."
AFP/Getty Images This file picture taken in 1967 shows US Navy Air Force Major John McCain lying on a bed in a Hanoi hospital as he was being given medical care for his injuries.
The darkest moments of his capture occur when guards place him in solitary.
"It's an awful thing, solitary. It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment."
A year later, several guards brought a resistant McCain to the camp commander in order to formally charge him of his war crimes.
"Knowing that I was in serious trouble and that nothing I did or said would make matters any worse, I replied: 'F--- you.'"
McCain was beat up, tied up for a night, and then dragged to an empty room for 4 days.
"At two-to-three intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings ... still I felt they were being careful not to kill or permanently injure me."
The worst beating came on the third night.
"I lay in my own blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move...he slammed his fist into my face and knocked me across the room towards the waste bucket. I fell on the bucket, hitting it with my left arm, and breaking it again. They left me lying on the floor, moaning from the stabbing pain in my refractured arm."
It was after this night, that McCain tried to commit suicide twice. He was stopped by the guards and received more beatings. Shortly after, he confessed to whatever war crimes he was accused of and was left alone in his cell for 2 weeks.
"They were the worst two weeks of my life ... I was ashamed ... I shook, as if my disgrace were a fever."
This was 2 years into McCain's almost 6 year imprisonment. He was released as a POW in March of 1973.
These book excerpts are from John McCain's memoir "Faith Of My Fathers."