The Bush administration’s ethics chief blasted President Trump for invoking the death of John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE’s son to defend a false claim that former President Obama didn’t call the families of fallen soldiers.

Richard Painter, the ethics chief for former President George W. Bush, said that Trump using Kelly’s son’s death shows that Trump “has no empathy” for others.

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Painter was responding to a CNN report that Kelly didn’t know Trump would publicly reveal that Obama hadn’t called him after his son’s death in Afghanistan.

“I think we’ve seen over and over again that President Trump has no empathy for those who serve abroad in our wars, who have been captured like John McCain John Sidney McCainMomentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day McConnell urges GOP senators to 'keep your powder dry' on Supreme Court vacancy McSally says current Senate should vote on Trump nominee MORE, or those who have been killed or the families of those who have been killed, in the case of Gen. Kelly,” Painter said.

“He has no empathy, no understanding of human emotions that people go through because he stayed home during Vietnam with his sore foot or whatever it was,” he said.

Trump is facing major backlash for comments he is said to have made to the widow of a soldier who was killed in an ambush in Niger two weeks.

Rep. Frederica Wilson Frederica Patricia WilsonHarris calls it 'outrageous' Trump downplayed coronavirus House passes bill establishing commission to study racial disparities affecting Black men, boys Florida county official apologizes for social media post invoking Hitler MORE (D-Fla.) said Trump told the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson that Johnson “knew what he signed up for but when it happens it hurts anyway.”

Trump denied making the comments, but Johnson’s mother confirmed Wilson’s account.

Painter said that while Trump’s actions were “atrocious,” Kelly has to stay in the White House to protect the country from “dangerous people” like Breitbart News head Stephen Bannon.

“He owes it to our country because there are very dangerous people out there, Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, a number of others that are pushing to get Gen. Kelly out so we can get the extremists back in the saddle in the White House,” Painter said.

“And that’s what puts our troops in danger.”