Ossoff calls Trump 'draft-dodging, crook president' at Georgia event with Kelly

Remarks defended Sen. Mark Kelly after Trump called for arrests

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia called President Donald Trump a “draft-dodging, crook president” during a Tuesday campaign appearance in Georgia, intensifying a public feud with the White House that has drawn viral attention on social media.

Ossoff spoke while appearing alongside Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He framed the remarks as a defense of Kelly, a former Navy captain, and accused Trump of trying to imprison a man who “embodies American heroism.”

“I don’t think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging, crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism,” Ossoff said.

The reference to Trump seeking to imprison Kelly dates to the previous year, when Trump called for the arrests of Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers after they released a social-media video stating that troops are not required to carry out illegal commands. Trump accused the lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”

The escalating rhetoric comes as Ossoff runs for re-election to his Georgia Senate seat and is widely speculated to be considering a 2028 presidential bid.

Two days earlier, on Sunday, Ossoff delivered a similar attack during a campaign appearance in Atlanta focused on Trump’s handling of the US-Israel war on Iran. “While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings,” Ossoff said. “He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the amir of Qatar.”

Ossoff appeared to be referring to Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant, who has drawn scrutiny for her closeness to the president.

The White House responded on Monday. Trump called Ossoff “Pee-wee Herman,” and White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on social media that Ossoff is “a radical, extremist Dumocrat.”