BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Former President Donald Trump lauded a wealthy donor on whom he bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom as having gotten the “better” award compared to the top military honor, the Medal of Honor, because those recipients are often deceased or injured.

Speaking at a campaign event intended to discuss antisemitism, Trump was introduced by Miriam Adelson, a wealthy Republican donor and widow of Sheldon Adelson, who pumped millions of dollars of his own money into electing Republican candidates. He died in 2021.

“I watched Sheldon sitting so proud in the White House when we gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said at his New Jersey resort.

“That’s the highest award you can get as a civilian. It’s the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor,” Trump continued, referring to the highest military honor bestowed for valor in combat. The Medal of Honor is often mistakenly called the Congressional Medal of Honor. “But civilian version, it’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead,” Trump concluded. “She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal, but she got the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she got it for — and that’s through committees and everything else.”

Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, have criticized the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for his military record and have sought to make reverence for military service an issue in the election. Vance, who is also a veteran, has criticized Walz for opting to retire after more than 20 years in the National Guard but before his unit was set to be deployed to Iraq. Walz has defended his military service.

Trump awarded Miriam Adelson the Medal of Freedom in 2018, commending her donations to anti-addiction facilities and her work as a doctor. The Trump White House described her as a “committed member of the American Jewish community” who “has supported Jewish schools, Holocaust memorial organizations, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Birthright Israel, among other causes.”

President John F. Kennedy established the Medal of Freedom in 1963. Intended to recognize a wide variety of people, the award is created to honor civilians who have contributed to the “interests of the United States,” “world peace” or other cultural or “significant public or private endeavors.” A president may unilaterally issue the honor.