Remember back when the left-leaning elite media claimed former President Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about wounded veterans? Well, since it appears they have nothing else to do, they are resurrecting that particular false narrative.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who served under Trump, gave an exclusive interview to CNN in which he “confirmed” that the former president had referred to wounded veterans as “losers” and “suckers.”
Kelly set the record straight with on-the-record confirmation of a number of damning stories about statements Trump made behind closed doors attacking US service members and veterans, listing a number of objectionable comments Kelly witnessed Trump make firsthand.
“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
Haven’t we gone through this already?
As it turns out, we have.
The original claims about Trump’s comments came from an article in The Atlantic that said the former president refused to visit a World War I memorial in France when he made the comments. However, everyone in Trump’s orbit – including some who later turned on him, denied these claims.
Former and current White House officials angrily denied a report that President Trump disparaged American war dead, saying instead that he was “livid” that bad weather meant he could not visit a French cemetery for U.S. soldiers killed in World War I.
The controversy stems from 2018, when Trump was expected to lay a wreath at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, a trip abandoned at the last moment on the grounds that heavy rain made conditions unsuitable for helicopter travel.
It was later revealed through emails that Trump did not show up to the memorial because of “bad weather,” not because he was disrespecting Americans who fought in WWI.
White House official has sent an image of redacted email apparently showing "bad weather call" was indeed cause of Trump not attending Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018.
— Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) September 4, 2020
Dan Scavino and Stephen Miller were also both there - and deny Atlantic storyhttps://t.co/jQNgHX0Fd7 pic.twitter.com/Gzre4oYEs9
Even the former National Security Advisor to Trump, John Bolton, who has no love for the former president, denied that he made the comments and even corroborated the contents of the email explaining why Trump did not go to the memorial.
The opening to the much-discussed Atlantic article, and the same events as described in John Bolton's memoir. https://t.co/1PQQXY8eoJ pic.twitter.com/JS32FJx9Ez
— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 4, 2020
Perhaps CNN should have looked deeper into this story before trying to get a former Trump official to repeat a blatant falsehood to score cheap political points.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member