Associated Press
A new report details multiple instances of President Donald Trump making disparaging remarks about members of the U.S. military who have been captured or killed, including referring to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump said Thursday that the story is “totally false.”
The allegations were first reported in The Atlantic. A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments.
The defense officials said Trump made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of Nov. 10, 2018.
Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Trump responded by saying he didn’t want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The White House blamed the canceled visit on poor weather at the time.
In another conversation on the trip, The Atlantic said, Trump referred to the 1,800 Marines who died in the World War I battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Trump emphatically denied the Atlantic report Thursday night, calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine.”
Speaking to reporters after he returned to Washington from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Trump said: “I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?”
Trump also reiterated the White House explanation of why he didn’t visit the cemetery. “The helicopter could not fly,” he said, because of the rain and fog. “The Secret Service told me you can’t do it. … They would never have been able to get the police and everybody else in line to have a president go through a very crowded, very congested area.”
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said, “It’s sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody.”
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday, “If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the President of the United States.”
“Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members,” he said in a statement Thursday night, adding that if he is elected president, “I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always.” Biden’s son Beau served in Iraq in 2008-09.
The Defense officials also confirmed to The AP reporting in The Atlantic that Trump on Memorial Day 2017 had gone with his chief of staff, John Kelly, to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
The senior Marine Corps officer and The Atlantic, citing sources with firsthand knowledge, also reported that Trump said he didn’t want to support the August 2018 funeral of Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated Navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser.” The Atlantic also reported that Trump was angered that flags were flown at half-staff for McCain, saying: “What the f—- are we doing that for? Guy was a f—-ing loser.”
Trump acknowledged Thursday he was “never a fan” of McCain and disagreed with him, but said he still respected him and approved everything to do with his “first-class triple-A funeral” without hesitation because “I felt he deserved it.”
In 2015, shortly after launching his presidential candidacy, Trump publicly blasted McCain, saying “He’s not a war hero.” He added, “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump only amplified his criticism of McCain as the Arizona lawmaker grew critical of his acerbic style of politics, culminating in a late-night “no” vote scuttling Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That vote shattered what few partisan loyalties bound the two men, and Trump has continued to attack McCain for that vote, even posthumously.
The magazine said Trump also referred to former President George H.W. Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in World War II.
___
Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
9 comments
James Robert Miles
September 4, 2020 at 8:10 am
“bone spurs” Trump strikes again. Never having served in the military makes him the ultimate hypocrite but calling dead service members ‘losers’ is the ultimate insult. However. I am sure that the real losers are his retarded followers who continue to support this ego maniac no matter what this jackass says or does. Now he is also trying to destroy Social Security within three years which, considering the retiree situation here in Florida ought to lose the idiot a ton of votes. Good!!
John McMahon
September 4, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Wow James Robert miles likes his middle name a LOT like most assassins. John wilkes booth, lee Harvey Oswald , barry sotoro Obama! It’s ok James don’t panic and get TRIGGERED like the soy boy estrogen receptor you sound like your NOT an assassin. DIDN’T your fascist regime leader Barak Hussein dodge military service by hiding in those gay Chicago bath houses? Did Bill Clinton your war loving pig leader get a deferral from the draft while smoking dope in college? Did Biden serve in the military or was he hiding too? Did you ever serve your country OR did you have a twisted Democrat panties yeast infection like Al Gore? Lol yes I DID serve my country for 35 years and I can smell a Marxist ideology imbecile with a FAKE story a mile away.
Terrance Bees
September 4, 2020 at 11:12 am
Trump has stated that he “always wanted a Purple Heart”. Lets give Trump the opportunity. He can join Operation Freedom’s Sentinel In Afghanistan today to earn his Purple Heart. But then again, getting wounded makes you a loser?
TED KRUZE
September 4, 2020 at 12:17 pm
The REAL “losers and suckers” in ANY conversation involving Pres. Bone Spurs are the 63,000,000 schmucks that voted for him in 2016 – and the worst of that crowd will be those that vote for him again in 2020!
According to the polls, Commander-In-Chief-Draftdodger is supported primarily by uneducated white males and the retired Old Phartz from the Silent Generation and the first-half of the Baby Boomer Generation. Apparently, to those people, total ignorance = total bliss. (?)
The rest of the country needs to out-vote these particular “losers and suckers” in A LANDSLIDE anti-Trump vote on November 3rd!
John McMahon
September 4, 2020 at 1:08 pm
LMFAO! Another anonymous FAKE ACCUSATION from angry terminated butt hurt Obama administration official with no PROOF. Got to laugh about how they will do anything to stop the most pro veteran and pro military President in years. FUNNY how the timing of this obviously fake hoax revelation only comes out NOW before the election . Hmmm. Nice try communist Democrat KKK trolls in the DC swamp. ONLY sheep like the author of this lame article with zero evidence will believe you scumbags. Trump loved the military his entire life TED (I’m a leftist SNOW FLAKE ) KRUZ! Scared to use your real name sissy?
Sonja Fitch
September 4, 2020 at 2:44 pm
Trump is a paranoid delusional racist sexist liar and Fing COWARD! Vote this lousy sob out!!! Lock him in a damn. Bunker ! Enough of this vulgar filthy white man!
Ocean Joe
September 4, 2020 at 6:20 pm
Regardless of what was/wasn’t said or who was afraid of getting their hair wet, if you aren’t familiar with the American cemeteries of Europe, watch the video.
SMH
September 4, 2020 at 6:41 pm
I am so tired of Florida Politacks posting these garbage propaganda “stories” fro AP with people too chicken sh*t to put their name in it. I don’t care who you want to vote for and why—this kind of nonsense slander is an insult to your readers and the public. Garbage in, garbage out. Try reporting something real for a change. You cheapen your brand. I’m about done with this site and will read Politico from now on. I don’t come here to read AP. I can pay our local crap paper for that.
Jack
September 6, 2020 at 11:30 am
It’s obvious that trump said these things because he’s said similar things to anyone that refutes him or about things he doesn’t like . As a vietnam veteran who supports POW’s and MIA’s I detest this clown people call a president. “Captured soldiers are Losers” And he deferred from service because that’s for “Suckers and Losers”
He also lied about programs for the military that Obama enacted in 2014 for the military..taking credit for Obama’s work. Then he lied about pay raises, that we have recieved automatically over the years. The raises being “LESS” than during the Obama administration. He also removed our housing funds to pay for the wall. The VA is in terrible shape.
We are fed up with trump and his lies. He’s lost all support from the people in the military.
Biden a true patriot gets our vote.
Comments are closed.