WASHINGTON (CN) — A group of House Democrats, many of whom have served in the U.S. military, condemned President Donald Trump on Friday for his reported remarks disparaging veterans as “losers” and “suckers.”
“It is completely unacceptable and it is completely unacceptable when it comes from our commander-in-chief,” Congressman Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, told reporters on a conference call.
The latest criticism of Trump, just two months before the presidential election, was spurred by allegations in a report published by The Atlantic on Thursday night. In it, numerous anonymous officials recounted Trump’s alleged remarks as he canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France two years ago.
A rainy day made Trump concerned his hair would be mussed, but most offensively, the Democratic lawmakers lamented Friday, the president reportedly declined the visit because it was unimportant to go to a cemetery “filled with losers.”
According to the Atlantic report, Trump referred to the U.S. Marines who fought and died at the hallowed World War I battle site Belleau Wood as “suckers.” Soldiers fought a 20-day campaign there to rout Germans from their forested stronghold a mere 30 miles from Paris. Over 1,800 Marines were killed and there were almost 10,000 total American casualties at Belleau Wood.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, Trump called the Atlantic story a “hoax” and a “continuation of the witch hunt,” claiming no one from the magazine called him about the piece.
“It's a disgrace that somebody is allowed to write things like that,” Trump said in response to reporters’ questions.
The president suggested the Atlantic’s source “could have been a guy like a John Kelly,” positing that a “disgruntled” former employee like his ex-chief of staff could have spoken to the magazine.
When asked if he regretted making comments disparaging John McCain, Trump said he "wasn't a fan" of the late senator but “that doesn't mean I don’t respect him.” He also argued questions asked by reporters during an earlier press conference with Democratic presidential candidate Biden were “meant for a child.”
Congressman Gil Cisneros, who served in the U.S. Navy and was deployed twice, said on Friday's conference call he was shocked when he read the Atlantic piece.
“But then you remember the things he said about John McCain – that he was a loser who got shot down and that he doesn’t like people who got captured,” the California Democrat said, recalling Trump’s remarks about the late Arizona Republican senator’s military service on the campaign trail in 2015.
In addition to saying McCain was “not a war hero,” Trump quipped: “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Over five years, McCain was tortured and held as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after his plane was shot down. Trump secured a deferment during the Vietnam War thanks to a diagnosis of bone spurs, though he was otherwise in good health and an active 22-year-old athlete.
Questions on the deferment’s legitimacy have circulated for years. The president has said it was a high lottery number that kept him out of service, but late said it was a medical condition. Records in the National Archives confirm Trump was medically exempted for service for over a year before he ever received his draft number.
“McCain was a hero,” Cisneros said. “For the president to talk about our veterans as losers and suckers, it’s just appalling and not only puts down all our veterans who served but really puts down, on a personal note, my family.
He added, “My grandfather, my father, my uncle, my godfather, all are veterans who served from World War II to Vietnam… The president does not understand sacrifice or sacrifice for something more than oneself.”