Trump falsely claims Obama did not call families of dead soldiers while he was President
Predecessor has said that calling families of fallen soldiers was a very difficult part of the job
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has falsely claimed Barack Obama and other presidents did not call the families of US soldiers killed in action.
The President’s statement comes days after four American Green Berets were killed during an ambush in Niger.
Mr Trump said that he plans on calling the families later this week, and justified not having done so already by saying his predecessors had not called the families of fallen soldiers at all.
“So the traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, 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,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Rose Garden.
He walked back the statement somewhat about 15 minutes later when asked how he could say that Mr Obama did not call the families of fallen soldiers during his administration.
“I don’t know if he did. I was told that he didn’t often, and a lot of presidents don’t — they write letters,” Mr Trump said. “President Obama, I think, probably did and maybe he didn’t. I don’t know, that’s what I’m told.”
Mr Trump had described the difficulty of calling families of soldiers killed in action, which Mr Obama and the past presidents have also described as an incredibly difficult part of the job.
The President’s comments were met with criticism online, including from former Obama aides, who called Mr Trump a liar.
“That’s a f****** lie,” Alyssa Mastromonaco, who worked as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under Mr Obama, tweeted. “To say President Obama (or past presidents) didn’t call the family members of soldiers KIA — he’s a deranged animal.”
Mr Obama, unlike Mr Trump, was also never reported to have engaged in a public skirmish with Gold Star Families. The President engaged in such an exchange last year during the 2016 campaign after Khizr Khan, the father of a soldier who was killed in action, lashed out at Mr Trump during the Democratic National Convention.
Mr Trump has also criticised former prisoner of war John McCain, a Republican senator, saying that he prefers soldiers who don not get captured.
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