(ConservativeHub.com) – John Kelly, the former White House Chief of Staff, in a recent statement to CNN, said that former President Donald Trump viewed fallen U.S. soldiers as “suckers.”
Kelly was the Trump administration’s longest-serving chief of staff and during a recent interview with anchor Jake Tapper, he appeared to validate some of the claims that had been published in The Atlantic in 2020. These were related to certain remarks Trump had made in 2018 during an official visit to France.
Kelly referred to Trump as a “person” who believed that those who were wounded or killed in battle or who had spent years as POWs were “suckers” because they had joined the military when there was “nothing in it for them.” He claimed that Trump had not wanted to be in the presence of military amputees as he believed that it would ruin his image.
He proceeded to argue that Trump had shown open contempt towards Gold Star families during his 2016 presidential campaign and had even stated that American heroes were “losers” and that he would not be visiting “their graves in France.”
The Atlantic had reported at the time that many senior staffers stated that Trump argued that he should not visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France as it was “filled with losers.” The men buried in that cemetery were killed during World War I’s Battle of Belleau Wood. Trump also allegedly referred to those 1,800 U.S. Marines as “suckers” because they had lost their lives.
According to The Washington Post, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung issued a response following Kelly’s claims, saying Kelly “clowned himself” and accusing him of making up the claims because he wasn’t good at his job.
Copyright 2023, ConservativeHub.com
