President Trump said Friday that "sadists" used to walk the halls of the Department of Veteran Affairs before Congress passed accountability legislation that allowed VA leaders to fire misbehaving employees.

"You had people working in the VA who were sadists," Trump said during a rally in Huntsville, Ala. on Friday. "You couldn't fire them."

"Twenty-five years ago, these same people would've had their ass kicked" by the veterans they abused, Trump said.

Trump on VA reform: "25 years before, they would have had their ass kicked by the same person they were abusing" pic.twitter.com/xq6wNVpKam — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) September 23, 2017

Congress passed legislation over the summer that limited the ability of VA employees to appeal their punishments endlessly and empowered the VA secretary and top agency officials to remove employees that hurt veterans.

"We have VA worker accountability. For 40 years, they've been trying to get it passed. They couldn't," Trump said of the plan.

The president cited the power of federal employees' unions as one reason VA accountability legislation had a difficult path to passage in Congress.

Veterans' issues have remained central to Trump's platform since the early days of his campaign.

Establishing a White House veterans' complaint hotline and promoting the accountability plan were among the first initiatives of his administration.