Sen. Warren: GOP Candidates Too Slow to Denounce Trump

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is faulting Republican leaders for failing to denounce Donald Trump as severely for his comments about Mexican immigrants as they have for his criticism of Sen. John McCain.

Warren said Monday that calling the Arizona Republican anything less than a hero is wrong and said Trump's fellow GOP presidential candidates were right to jump on him.

"Donald Trump calling John McCain anything other than a hero is just Donald Trump being a blowhard, but I noticed that the other Republican presidential candidates immediately jumped on him for that and good for them, but where were they when Donald Trump shot off his mouth about Mexican-Americans?" Warren said. "The answer was they hid in the shadows."

Trump dismissed McCain's reputation as a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam. Trump said, "I like people who weren't captured."

Warren said while it's easy to defend McCain as a war hero, the Republican candidates were much more reluctant to go after Trump when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

"It's easy to stand up and defend John McCain as a war hero because he is, but where are the rest of the Republican leadership in trying to shut down ... Donald Trump when he goes on the attack against Mexican-Americans?" The Massachusetts Democrat told reporters.

During his presidential kickoff speech, Trump said Mexican immigrants are "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some, I assume, are good people." He advocated building a wall along the United States' southern border.

Many GOP candidates were slow in their response to Trump's comments as they searched for a way to reach out to Hispanics without alienating traditional GOP voters.

McCain was a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War and was captured after his plane was shot down. He was held for more than five years as a prisoner of war.

Trump said he avoided service in the Vietnam War through student and medical deferments.

Warren has occasionally teamed with McCain to push legislation.

In 2013, Warren won the support of McCain for a modern version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act.

The bill was intended to separate traditional banks that have savings and checking accounts and are insured by the FDIC from riskier financial institutions that offer services such as hedge funds and private equity activities.