John Bolton Disputes Claims That Trump Denigrated Fallen U.S. Troops In France
[guest post by Dana]
John Bolton, who we know doesn’t hold Trump in high regard, has publicly said that the claims from anonymous sources as reported at The Atlantic are not true:
Former national security adviser John Bolton disputed the main thesis of The Atlantic’s recent report alleging that President Trump disparaged fallen American soldiers in France, calling the claim “simply false” in an appearance on “The Story” Monday.
“According to what that article said, the president made disparaging remarks about soldiers and people buried in the cemetery in connection with the decision for him not to go to the ceremony that was planned that afternoon, and that was simply false,” Bolton said.
“I don’t know who told the author that, but that was false.”
The president canceled the planned 2018 trip to the cemetery for American war dead in France because of the weather and not because of disdain for the slain soldiers, Bolton said, contradicting the report from The Atlantic claiming that Trump described the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery as being “filled with losers.”
“I don’t know who told the author that, but that was false.”
“The main issue was whether or not weather conditions permitted the president to go out to the cemetery,” Bolton, who was in the room at the time, recalled.
Former chief of staff John Kelly presented “logistical reasons why the trip couldn’t take place and the president assented to the recommendation that he not go,” Bolton explained.
Trump “sort of took the facts as they were,” Bolton said, calling the canceled trip a “very straight weather call.”
Bolton added that he would not put it past the President to disparage veterans, and pointed out what we already know:
“The president has a habit of disparaging people. He ends up denigrating almost everybody that he comes in contact with whose last name is not Trump.”
He was adamant that, when the decision was made, the President did not make the remarks as reported:
“I was simply responding to what I thought [was] the main point of The Atlantic article: that at the critical point Saturday morning, when the decision was made not to go to Aisne-Marne, that he made the disparaging remarks,” Bolton said, “and he did not.”
However, four days ago, Bolton did allow that it’s possible that Trump made disparaging remarks later in the day:
Bolton was on the 2018 trip to Paris with Trump but said he didn’t hear the president disparage the dead Marines himself.
“I didn’t hear him say those things,” he said, adding later he probably would have included the remarks in his book if he had. “Now, did he say those things to other people later in the day? It’s certainly possible.”
Two other individuals who were in the room at the time have also come out to deny that Trump made the comments about troops in Europe. The one that interests me the most is Zach Fuentes, former Deputy White House Chief of Staff:
Fuentes unequivocally denied The Atlantic’s report last week[.]
Fuentes personally briefed President Trump on the weather situation that led to the trip being canceled. He is also a close personal confidante of former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
“You can put me on record denying that I spoke with The Atlantic,” Fuentes told Breitbart News on Monday. “I don’t know who the sources are. I did not hear POTUS call anyone losers when I told him about the weather. Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?”
Fuentes also said that he is not happy to see Trump disparaging John Kelly:
“On a separate note, I am disappointed to see POTUS talk about General Kelly so negatively in the middle of being accused of saying negative things about the military,” Fuentes said. “If anyone understands selfless service, it’s General Kelly.”
The other individual countering claims in The Atlantic is United States Ambassador to France, Jamie McCourt:
“Needless to say, I never spoke to The Atlantic, and I can’t imagine who would,” McCourt told Breitbart News.
“In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either,” she added.
McCourt said the president was very disappointed he could not visit the cemetery at Belleau Wood, adding, “In fact, the next day, he attended and spoke at the ceremony in Suresnes in the pouring rain.”
While we have ourselves witnessed what sort of man Trump is, and have no illusions about him or the awful things he is willing to say about people he views as weak or as losers, I do think that it’s time for the anonymous sources to come forward with their claims.
–Dana