US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has denied a report that he said a US military cemetery in France was “filled with losers”.
Trump has called the report “fake news” and tweeted that he would “swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on”.
The news report in The Atlantic features details of Trump’s visit to France as part of World War I commemorations in November 2018.
During the trip, a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris was cancelled at the last minute.
The report states that Trump rejected the idea that the cancellation was due to worries over his hair and was instead because he did not believe it important to honour American war dead.
The report cites four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day, with Trump reportedly saying: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
In a separate conversation on the same trip, the report said Trump referred to the more than 1,800 US marines who lost their lives at the WW1 Battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
The report also contains details of Trump’s reaction to the death of Senator John McCain in 2018, stating that he said, “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral”, and later becoming angered when flags were flown at half-mast.
“What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser,” the president reportedly told aides.
Both the White House and Trump himself have denied the story. White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah tweeted that it was “offensive and patently false”.
On that Atlantic piece: It’s offensive & patently false. @realDonaldTrump holds the military in the highest regard. He’s demonstrated his commitment to the force: delivering a pay raise to our troops, increasing military $$, signing vets reform & supporting military spouses.
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) September 3, 2020
“I’ve watched Donald Trump solemnly sign letters to the families of fallen heroes. He’s honoured their memories by doing more than any modern president to get us OUT of endless wars,” she added.
In a stream of tweets, Trump also denied the story:
“I was never a big fan of John McCain, disagreed with him on many things including ridiculous endless wars and the lack of success he had in dealing with the VA and our great Vets, but the lowering of our Nations American Flags, and the first class funeral he was given by our country, had to be approved by me, as President, & I did so without hesitation or complaint,” he said.
Quite the contrary, I felt it was well deserved. I even sent Air Force One to bring his body, in casket, from Arizona to Washington. It was my honour to do so.
“Also, I never called John a loser and swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on, that I never called our great fallen soldiers anything other than HEROES. This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say