After Donald Trump Falsely Claims Obama Never Called Families Of Fallen Soldiers, White House Doubles Down
Donald Trump made the false claim that Barack Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers to offer his condolences, and the White House is now doubling down behind that claim.
Trump has come under fire for going close to two weeks without making any kind of public comment on the deaths of U.S. soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger, a suspected ISIS attack. It was the deadliest attack on American troops during Trump’s tenure as president, yet Trump spent days tweeting about his distaste for comedians and NFL protests without publicly mentioning the soldiers.
In a press conference on Monday, Donald Trump was asked why he has remained silent about the deaths of the U.S. soldiers, and responded with a shot against his predecessor.
“The traditional way if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said (via the New York Daily News). “A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it.”
After a reporter challenged Donald Trump on the statement, the president admitted that he did not know much on the matter.
“I don’t know if he did (call),” Trump said. “I was told he didn’t often and a lot of presidents don’t. They write letters…I do a combination of both. Sometimes it’s a very difficult thing to do, but I do a combination of both. President Obama I think probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn’t. I don’t know. That’s what I was told.”
As many news outlets have pointed out, Trump’s statement that Obama did not contact the families of fallen soldiers was false. The New York Daily News reported that Trump “falsely suggested he is one of few commanders-in-chief to call the families of fallen U.S. soldiers,” and the New York Times in its headline about Trump’s press conference noted, “Trump Falsely Claims Obama Didn’t Contact Families of Fallen Soldiers.”
The New York Times also noted that Obama had a long record of meeting with families of killed service members, and regularly traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to greet the caskets of fallen troops.
Trump’s statement did not sit well with former Obama staffers, some of whom spoke out.
“This is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards,” Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security under Obama, posted on Twitter.
Trump also claimed previous presidents, including Barack Obama, didn't call families of soldiers who diedhttps://t.co/BfI7ONFMzg
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) October 16, 2017
Despite the attacks from Obama staffers and a slew of headlines pointing out that Donald Trump’s statement is false, the White House doubled down on the president’s claims. In a statement released Monday evening, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump’s statement that Obama did not contact the families of fallen soldiers.
“The President wasn’t criticizing predecessors, but stating a fact,” Sanders said (via The Hill). “When American heroes make the ultimate sacrifice, Presidents pay their respects. Sometimes they call, sometimes they send a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet family members in person. This president, like his predecessors, has done each of these.”
“Individuals claiming former Presidents, such as their bosses, called each family of the fallen, are mistaken,” she added.
To date, Donald Trump has still issued no official statement on the U.S. soldiers killed in Niger, either formally or on his Twitter page.
[Featured Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
