Newspaper report alleges Trump is said to have called dead US soldiers “idiots”
In another conversation on the same trip, Trump described the more than 1,800 US soldiers buried in the cemetery as “idiots”, reported “The Atlantic”. Accordingly, there are four witnesses for Trump’s statements. The US delegation officially stated at the time that Trump could not visit the cemetery because his helicopter could not take off due to bad weather. Vietnam veterans offended, Fox News journalist Griffin claims to have received confirmation of Trump’s statements. Two former government officials had confirmed that Trump had refused to visit the cemetery “to honor American war dead.” The weather did not play a role. One of Griffin’s sources also confirmed that Trump had called US soldiers “fools” — albeit in a different context. “When the president spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, ‘It was a stupid war. Everyone who went was a fool,” Trump said, according to the journalist.
Trump denies the allegations. On Friday, the Republican, who wants to be re-elected for a second term in November, said it was a “fake story”. For him, fallen soldiers are “absolute heroes”. US President Melania Trump also defended her husband. The allegations were “not true,” said the first lady on Twitter. “These are very dangerous times when anonymous sources are believed more than anything else and nobody knows their motivation. This is not journalism — this is activism.” Trump’s relationship with the country’s armed forces is complicated. The president emphasizes again and again that he has strengthened the military and provided it with more money. However, in the past few years there have been repeated differences of opinion with the military leadership and open arguments with respected ex-generals.