Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said Thursday that the nation's veterans "have been badly mistreated" by the U.S. government and "that's not going to happen anymore" if he's elected to the White House.
"Illegal immigrants are treated better than our veterans," Trump told thousands of supporters at his rally at Drake University in Des Moines.
Trump organized the rally after boycotting the Republican presidential debate across town at the Iowa Events Center in a dispute with Fox News over co-moderator Megyn Kelly.
He told the crowd that Fox did "apologize" to him just before the event and said that he delayed the start of the rally by about 15 minutes as a result.
The rally lasted about an hour.
He read some of the top contributors to the effort, saying that it raised $6 million for veteran's organizations.
While not commenting much on the debate, Trump did take a swipe at rival Jeb Bush, saying that "he's probably doing great tonight because I'm not there.
"He's probably asking, 'Where's Trump?'"
Protesters briefly interrupted Trump's speech, but they were out-shouted by the front-runner's supporters.
"I love protesters at rallies," Trump said as they were led out of the hall by security officers.
He also introduced two other challengers, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, whom he invited to attend the rally after their undercard debate. He brought them onstage.
"I'm supporting another candidate for president," Santorum said, "but that doesn't mean we can't work together to help our veterans.
"We have an obligation to do something to make sure our veterans have the best healthcare in the world," he said.
Huckabee said that, while he, Trump and Santorum were rivals for the nomination, "we are colleagues standing in unison in support of the men and women who let us breathe the air we breathe.
"Without you, there would be no United States of America."
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