httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I24Ldq69V5Q
“Sincere apologies to an American hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service. #ilsen,” he tweeted.
The Illinois Republican questioned the military veteran’s ties to the American Revolution during a Senate debate Thursday.
“My family has served this nation in uniform going back to the Revolution. I am a daughter of the American Revolution. I’ve bled for this nation. But I still want to be t in the Senate when the drums of war sound because I want to be t to say, ‘This is what it costs. This is what you’re asking us to do. And if that’s the case, I’ll go,'” she said at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“Sen. Kirk’s statement speaks for itself, as does Tammy’s response,” Duckworth campaign spokesman, Matt McGrath, later told CNN. Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager of Donald Trump – whom Kirk has publicly broken with – mocked the Illinois senator over the episode, linking to a story about the debate and tweeting, “The same Mark Kirk that unendorsed his party’s presidential nominee and called him out in paid ads? Gotcha. Good luck.”
In the past, Kirk has also faced criticism for misrepresenting his military career.
In 2010 he accepted responsibility misstatements about his Navy Reserve career, including that he served in the Gulf War, that he once commanded the Pentagon war room and that he came under fire while flying intelligence missions over Iraq.And in 2016, Kirk falsely asserted on his campaign website that he was a veteran of the Iraq War.
In 2012 then-Rep. Joe Walsh – who is facing criticism this week after saying he’s going to pick up a musket if Donald Trump loses the 2016 election – attacked Duckworth over her war record, saying she talks too much about her war record.