Immediately before the 2020 election, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a dramatic, anonymously-sourced story that then-President Donald Trump had referred to military interred at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery as” fools” and “losers”. In reply, 25 people went on the report calling the claim a hoax and refuting its accuracy, 14 of whom were with the leader in France.
One poll period afterwards, history is repeating itself.
With Trump on the rise and Kamala Harris ‘ battle largely devoid, Goldberg has once more discovered unidentified resources who claim Trump made a slew of outrageous remarks, including one about a murdered Army man. And once again, numerous and reputable on-the-record denials quickly undermined the story.
Even Goldberg could n’t make the retelling of Trump’s interactions with the family of murdered Army Specialist Vanessa Guillén sound anything but gracious. Then, Goldberg claims — without citing a source — that Trump later angrily refused to pay Guillén’s funeral expenses, saying” It does n’t cost 60, 000 bucks to bury a f-cking Mexican”.
As the piece continues, Goldberg ( again, without naming his sources ) claims Trump wished for” the kind of generals that Hitler had”. In a book about Trump, Goldberg claims that the president once asked his former chief of staff John Kelly,” Why ca n’t you be like the German generals?” and then goes on to add more salacious snippets he attributed to Kelly. Kelly has made it known that he dislikes Trump.
However, when Goldberg reached out to several people intimately acquainted with Trump’s interactions with the Guillén home, they went on the report to deny the accusations. After the item was published, more people officially criticized it. Thus far, nine people have gone on the document to refute Goldberg’s outrageous promises.
Mayra Guillén
Through her attorney, Vanessa Guillén’s girl Mayra gave a speech to Goldberg, saying:” I am beyond pleased for all the help President Donald Trump showed our home during a trying time. … I witnessed firsthand how President Trump honors our government’s soldiers ‘ services. We are appreciative of everything he has done and continues to do in support of our army. Goldberg made an attempt to instill doubt in the narrative that the speech had genuinely been written by a Trump official.
After the story was published, Mayra Guillén blasted Goldberg for “exploiting my daughter’s death for politicians”, calling it “hurtful &, rude to the significant changes she made for company people”.
” President Donald Trump did nothing but show appreciation to my home &, Vanessa”, she said. ” In truth, I voted for President Trump today”.
Guillén Family Attorney Natalie Khawam
After Trump told the family,” If you need support, I’ll help you out,” Goldberg claimed Natalie Khawam, the counsel for the Guillén home, had informed him that she had sent a bill to the White House to cover the funeral expenses. Khawam claimed that the family previously received payment from Trump, but that the Army and donations helped pay for the funeral expenses.
This is regrettable because I have dealt with lots of reporters in my lawful job. Jeffrey Goldberg@the Atlantic not merely misrepresented our talk, but he openly LIED in HIS dramatic account,” Khawam wrote hours after Goldberg’s story was published. ” More importantly, he used and exploited my clients, and Vanessa Guillen’s death … for cheap political get”.
The schedule of this” story” is a bit uncertain, as this alleged conversation Trump had may have taken place more than four years ago! Why a tale about it now”?! she added.
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Goldberg claimed then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was one of the hearers of Trump’s alleged” It does n’t cost 60, 000 bucks” comment. Through a spokeswoman, Meadows denied the claim to Goldberg.
Meadows himself wrote:” Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her cremation costs is completely phony.”
” He was nothing but form, courteous, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U. S. government did best by Vanessa Guillen and her home”, the former chief of staff added.
Meadows Spokesman Ben Williamson
Goldberg wrote that a” official for Meadows” had “denied having heard Trump make the statement”. But Ben Williamson, the official to which Goldberg was referring, officially blasted Goldberg for downplaying his rejection.
After the story was published, Williamson wrote to Atlantic,” I sent a post saying President Trump completely did not say that,” referring to the reported remarks about Ms. Guillen they printed. That phrase was translated into “did n’t hear Trump say it,” according to Atlantic. Treat this deceptive piece consequently”.
Trump Spokesman Alex Pfeiffer
Trump official Alex Pfeiffer denies the reported opinion regarding Guillén’s burial in the hit piece, saying,” President Donald Trump never said that. This is an absurd lay from , The Atlantic , two days before the poll”.
Kash Patel, the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense
Goldberg allegedly claimed that Kash Patel, who was the acting secretary of defense to Trump, was present at the meeting where Trump allegedly denigrated Guillén’s demise. He sent him a declaration via Pfeiffer undermining the allegations.
” He powerfully urged that Spc. as someone who was present in the room with President Trump. Yet offering to personally pay himself in order to recognize her life and sacrifice, Vanessa Guillen’s suffering home should not have to bear the cost of any death services, according to Patel. ” In contrast, President Trump was able to include the Department of Defense designate her death as occurring’ in the line of duty,’ which gave her full military honors and provided her household access to advantages, services, and total financial aid”.
Theo Wold, Deputy Assistant to the President,
Theo Wold, Trump’s former deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, took to social media to call Goldberg’s article a “lie”, noting he “was at President Trump’s meeting with the Guillén family because I assisted with translation that day”.
” President Trump was genuinely concerned about Vanessa Guillén and appalled by the tragedy the Guillén Family were enduring”, Wold wrote. The Atlantic hit piece is a lie, according to the author.
Wold also noted that, at the meeting,” President Trump had zero interest in the cameras. He met with the Guillén family in person for twenty minutes, and he only offered to make the press gaggle if it would help them honor Army Specialist Guillén and raise awareness of her case. He even declared that the press was victorious that day. Boy was President Trump right”.
Nick Ayers, Vice President’s Chief of Staff
Nick Ayers, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, spoke out to decry Kelly’s allegations about Trump as “patently false”.
While I’ve spent my time at the White House, I’ve refrained from speaking out about internal staff leaks, rumors, or even lies, but General Kelly’s remarks about President Trump are too outrageous to ignore, he wrote. ” I spent more time with each of them than the majority, and his analysis is *patently false. *”
Gen. Keith Kellogg
Keith Kellogg, the former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, issued a similar refutation of Kelly’s claims. In response to a video of Kamala Harris repeating Kelly’s accusations, Kellogg said Kelly had “lied to the American people”.
” Vice President Harris is a fraud”, Kellogg wrote. I spent much longer in the White House as a senior than General Kelly. He lied to the American people and is a part of this fraud. His lies, as well as John Bolton’s, are a disservice to Nation at this critical time. So are the VP’s”.
Elle Purnell is the elections editor at The Federalist. Her work has been featured by Fox Business, RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women’s Forum. She was given her B. A. in government from Patrick Henry College, with a journalism minor. Follow her on Twitter @_etreynolds.