Donald Trump once told Mark Milley no one wanted to see a disabled vet who had been severely wounded in Afghanistan, report says

• Donald Trump once belittled a disabled veteran at a military ceremony, The Atlantic reported.
• The veteran had been asked by Gen. Mark Milley to sing "God Bless America" at an event in 2019.

Former President Donald Trump once belittled a disabled veteran, saying "no one wants to see that," The Atlantic reported.

When Gen. Mark Milley took on the role of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2019, he had chosen veteran Army captain Luis Avila, who had been severely wounded in Afghanistan, to sing "God Bless America" at the Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony.

Avila served five combat tours and lost a leg in an IED attack in Afghanistan. His injuries led to him suffering multiple strokes, heart attacks, and brain damage, The Atlantic reported.

It was a wet day with soft ground at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, and Avila's wheelchair almost overturned before others including former Vice President Mike Pence and Milley's wife rushed to help him.

When Avila finished his performance, Milley claimed that Trump said to him: "Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded," before telling him not to let Avila appear in public again.

But Milley, who is due to retire this month, has invited Avila to sing at his retirement ceremony, The Atlantic reported.

The former president's attitude towards the armed forces seemed "superficial, callous, and, at the deepest human level, repugnant," The Atlantic wrote.

At the welcome ceremony Trump said he had "absolute confidence" that Milley "will fulfill his duty with the same brilliance and fortitude he has shown throughout his long and very distinguished career."

But the pair's relationship has changed drastically since Milley was appointed to the US's top military position, with Trump calling the general's impending retirement "a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate."

"This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!"," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.