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Reuters
Protesters gathered outside the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia
US President Donald Trump has described a journalist who quoted him as a “fanatic” as saying that the dead US soldiers were “losers” and “fools.”
He compared the Atlantic magazine report to unsubstantiated allegations of collusion with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.
The damning citations were independently confirmed by The Associated Press.
Veteran groups are among those condemning Trump, less than two months before the 2020 election.
Progressive group votes posted a video of families whose children had been killed in action. “You don’t know what it is to sacrifice,” says one.
Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, tweeted: “Who is really surprised by this?”
A small group of protesters waved banners at the president’s motorcade on Saturday near Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
Trump has often claimed strong support among the military, and last year the Pew Research Center found that veterans generally supported him as commander-in-chief, with 57% in favor. Three-fifths of veterans identified as Republicans, the research found.
What is Trump said to have said?
According to The Atlantic, when Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris in November 2018, 100 years after the end of World War I, he said it was “full of losers.”
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EPA
Donald Trump visited Suresnes American Cemetery during 2018 trip to France
Four sources told the magazine that they had rejected the idea of visiting him because the rain would ruffle his hair, and they did not believe it was important to honor the war dead in the United States.
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During the same trip, the president allegedly also referred to 1,800 American soldiers who died at Belleau Wood as “fools.” The battle helped prevent a German advance on Paris during World War I and is revered by the US Marine Corps.
The Atlantic reports were based on anonymous sources, but a “senior Department of Defense official with first-hand knowledge of the facts” and a “senior United States Marine Corps officer who was informed of the comments from Trump “confirmed the cemetery’s comments to the AP.
In 2018, the White House said the visit to the cemetery had been canceled because bad weather had grounded the president’s helicopter. This account was backed up in a recent book by President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, who has been a vocal critic of Trump.
The United States Navy also said it canceled the trip to the cemetery. because of the rain in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act from Buzzfeed reporter Jason Leopold.
How did Trump react?
Without referring to Jeffrey Goldberg, the author of the Atlantic report, by name, he tweeted Saturday: “You work so hard for the military, since the complete rebuilding of a disaster left by OBiden.” [the previous presidential administration when Joe Biden was vice-president to Barack Obama], to fix a broken VA and fight for large-scale military pay increases, and then a slimeball reporter, perhaps working with disgruntled people, makes up such a horrible accusation.. “
“This reminds me of the Dirty Dossier [the Steele dossier which alleged collusion with Russia], which was pushed hard by John McCain, and then with a thud turned out to be a total fraud. So many other scams too. The extreme radical left is VICIOUS, they will do or say anything to win. But they won’t, WE WILL WIN, and we will have four great years! “
Trump continued to attack another journalist, Jennifer Griffin of Fox News, usually one of the president’s favorite outlets.
Griffin had reported derogatory remarks about the US military allegedly made by Trump on other occasions, such as calling soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War “fools.”
“Jennifer Griffin should be fired for these kinds of reports,” Trump tweeted. “He didn’t even call us for comment. @FoxNews left!”
White House officials have denied comments allegedly made during the trip to France or underscored the president’s respect for the military.
What are Trump’s opponents saying?
Biden, the Democratic challenger in the Nov. 3 election, said his rival was “unfit” to lead.
“Mr. president, if you don’t respect our troops, you can’t lead them“he tweeted.
If elected, he said, “it would make sure our American heroes know that I will stand behind them and honor their sacrifice. Always.”
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs while serving in Iraq, said President Trump “liked to use the US military for his own ego.”
Khizr Khan, the father of an American soldier killed in Iraq who criticized Trump during the 2016 Democratic convention, joined Duckworth on the call.
He said: “When Donald Trump calls anyone who puts his life at the service of others a loser, we understand Trump’s soul.”
Where are Trump and the US military?
There have been previous discussions and controversies.
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Trump provoked outrage by saying that the late Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was not a “war hero” and said, “I like people who were not captured.”
The president has never been in uniform. He received five deferrals from a military draft during the Vietnam War: four for academic reasons and one for bone spurs, a buildup of calcium in the heels.
Joe Biden received five student recruitment deferrals during the Vietnam War before being disqualified from serving in the military due to asthma as a teenager.
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