'We only have one truly sacred obligation': Biden goes on attack after report says Trump called dead US troops 'losers'
- The Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, issued a statement Thursday in response to a report that said President Donald Trump described US troops who died in World War I as "losers."
- The Atlantic published the article earlier Thursday, in which multiple unnamed sources described private comments they said Trump made during a visit to France.
- "If the revelations in today's Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States," Biden said.
The Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has joined the chorus of critics outraged at a report in The Atlantic indicating that President Donald Trump had described US troops who died in World War I as "suckers " and "losers."
"If the revelations in today's Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States," Biden said in a statement Thursday evening.
The Atlantic article, published earlier Thursday, cited multiple unnamed sources familiar with comments Trump made in France in 2018.
The morning he was set to visit the Aisne-Marne cemetery in France, the report said, Trump told senior staff members: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." In another conversation, he was said to have called US Marines killed in the 1918 Battle of Belleau Wood "suckers" because they died. The White House has denied the report, calling it "fake news."
Biden, whose son Beau served in Iraq, said in his statement that he considered the protection of "generations of American troops" who "have shed blood around the world in defense of our freedoms and to protect US vital interests" to be the "one truly sacred obligation" of a president.
"Duty, honor, country — those are the values that drive our service members," he said. "Those are the values that have formed the core of America's defense for centuries. And if I have the honor of serving as the next commander in chief, I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honor their sacrifice — always."
Biden's comments were more measured than some others'. Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said he was disappointed but not surprised.
"This is who he is," he said of Trump. "#PresidentMayhem has no respect for anyone."
Read Biden's full comments below:
- Read more:
- Trump called US Marines who died during World War I 'losers' and 'suckers,' report says
- Trump didn't want wounded veterans to attend a military parade because 'nobody wants to see that,' report says
- Trump reportedly called John McCain a 'f---ing loser' and said 'we're not going to support that loser's funeral'
- 'I don't get it': Trump questioned why retired Gen. John Kelly's son gave his life fighting in Afghanistan on a Memorial Day visit to his grave