PARIS (AP) -- French President Francois Hollande has strongly criticized U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying some of the things the Republican does make him sick.

"Some excesses make your stomach turn, even in the United States, especially when _ as did Donald Trump _ he speaks ill of a soldier, of the memory of a soldier," Hollande said, according to three people present at a meeting Tuesday with members of the French Presidential Press Association.

Hollande was referring to Trump's recent comments about Capt. Humayun Khan, a U.S. Muslim soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.

The three people confirming Hollande's comments spoke only on condition of anonymity because the remarks were intended to be off the record.

Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Hollande's comments were a response to Trump's recent verbal attacks on France. 

"In this (U.S. presidential) campaign, there are some extremely unusual types of comments," Le Foll told reporters following a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.

Last month, Trump singled out France as one country he would subject to the "extreme vetting" he is proposing for those seeking to enter the United States, a move he says is necessary to deter attacks by people coming from countries "compromised by terrorism."

France has been hit by a series of attacks carried out by Islamic extremists since 2015.

Le Foll also said that President Barack Obama was "well qualified" to make comments describing Trump as "unfit" and "woefully unprepared" to serve in the White House.

In June, the Hollande said he would consider Trump's election as dangerous and it would complicate relationships between Europe and the U.S., in an interview with Les Echos newspaper.