Washington: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and veterans lambasted President Donald Trump on Friday after a report saying Trump described dead or injured U.S. service members as “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump denied the allegations, published by The Atlantic on Thursday, citing people with firsthand knowledge of the president disparaging veterans and the war dead. Other outlets later confirmed stories in the article.
“If what is written in The Atlantic is true, it’s disgusting,” Biden said Friday during an appearance near his Delaware home. “It affirms what most of us believe to be true: that Donald Trump is not fit to be commander in chief.”
“To think that I would make statements negative to our military and fallen heroes when nobody has done what I’ve done,” Trump told reporters. “It’s a total lie … it’s a disgrace.”
Citing unnamed sources, The Atlantic reported Trump has repeatedly spoken negatively about U.S. service members who have been killed, injured or captured in action. It described his his canceled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in Paris in 2018, saying Trump chose not to make the trip because he didn’t want his hair to be ruined by the rain.
Speaking to senior staffers, he said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers,” referring to U.S. troops killed during World War I.
