Trump did in fact call Mr. McCain a loser, in reference to his loss to Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
“I don’t like losers,” Mr. Trump said at the Iowa Family Leadership meeting in July 2015. At the same event, when asked about Mr. McCain, who was described by the questioner as a “war hero,” Mr. Trump responded, “He’s not a war hero.”
He went on: “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, O.K.?”