Trump says he would rehire military members fired over vaccine mandate with back pay

Former President Donald Trump vowed, if elected come November, to rehire military service members who were let go for rejecting the COVID-19 vaccination and promised they would receive an apology with back pay.

"Kamala [Harris] and Crooked Joe purged 8,000 service members from our military for refusing their COVID vaccine mandate. They refused to do it," Trump said at an Asheboro, North Carolina, rally on Wednesday.

He added, "We didn't want a mandate. The mandate — you just can't do that."

"I will rehire every patriot that was fired with an apology and back pay. They will get their back pay and an apology from our government," he declared as the crowd loudly applauded.

The Republican presidential nominee said he hopes the former military service members now have "great jobs" while "making a lot of money" but hopes they want to come back.

"The mandate stuff should have never happened," he said to the rallygoers.

As of October 2023, only 43 of the fired 8,000 service members have rejoined the military following the repeal of the vaccine mandate.

Several groups, including First Liberty Institute and New Civil Liberties Alliance, have sued over the federal vaccine mandates and unconstitutional COVID-19 executive action.

While speaking during the rally, Trump also criticized the Biden-Harris administration's handling of the military and its morale.

"Thanks to Comrade Kamala and Joe Biden, morale in our military is now so low that almost every single branch is suffering a major recruitment and retention crisis," the former commander in chief said.

"Upon taking office, I will begin the biggest peacetime recruitment drive in the history of armed forces," he promised at the campaign rally.

The former president called for bringing back a "sense of pride and prestige" to the military. He also called on mass resignations of top military officials behind the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

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“I will ask for the resignations of every single senior military official who touched the Afghanistan disaster,” he announced. “I want their resignations immediately.”

Trump said he wanted to see resignation letters on his "desk in the Oval Office" on Inauguration Day.