Scott O’Grady, the Air Force pilot who survived being shot down over Bosnia in 1995, said on Friday that John Kerry’s actions after Vietnam constituted treason.

O’Grady, in an appearance with other military veterans coordinated by President Bush’s re-election campaign, said Kerry helped push North Vietnam’s proposals for the United States to withdraw at a time when the two countries were still officially at war.

“I see that as treason,” said O’Grady, who lives in Texas and has been speaking at veterans events for Bush around the country. He’s now retired from the military.

A Bush campaign spokeswoman, Tracey Schmitt, said O’Grady’s views were his own.

“The Bush-Cheney campaign does not and has not ever questioned John Kerry’s patriotism,” Schmitt said.

O’Grady said he was referring to Kerry’s 1971 appearance before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. In response to a question about how he proposed to end the war, Kerry mentioned that he was involved in peace talks in Paris.

“I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government,” Kerry told the panel, according to a transcript.

A U.S. law prohibits citizens from negotiating with foreign governments on matters such as peace treaties.