After President Donald Trump faced increasing criticism for failing to acknowledge four U.S. soldiers who died during an ambush in Niger on October 4 for nearly two weeks, he used the moment to attack his predecessors — except it was a flat-out lie.
Trump tried to claim that former President Barack Obama and others before him had done just as poor a job — or worse — at paying respects to fallen soldiers and contacting their families.
“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said this week in response to the criticism. “I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I am able to do it.”
Former Obama aides and staffers came to the former president’s defense, calling out Trump’s lies.
Not only does plenty of photographic evidence exist that Obama met with families of fallen soldiers frequently, but a video from 2009 shows the then-president greeting a plane carrying the bodies of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan and participating in the military’s ceremony, standing at attention alongside servicemembers and families. Obama went to Delaware at midnight to participate.
.@BarackObama flew to Delaware at midnight in 2009, met with families of & paid honor to the remains of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/kgTYytxrXj
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) October 16, 2017
Meanwhile, Trump spent the weekends since the soldiers were killed golfing, tweeting about protesting NFL players and attacking unflattering media as “fake news.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to spin the story as Trump simply stating “facts,” though it’s unclear how a lie can also be a fact here.
“The president wasn’t criticizing his predecessors, but stating a fact,” Sanders said. “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.”
JUST IN: @PressSec responds to criticism of Trump's comments about past presidents' lack of calls to families of the fallen. pic.twitter.com/ghnBbLjhK1
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 16, 2017
This article was published on reverepress.com
