To the Editor:

The accusation that President Trump called the fallen soldiers “losers and suckers” was fabricated by former Chief of Staff General John Kelly. Kelly is a registered Independent, earning President Trump’s trust, while supporting Joe Biden.

President Trump’s gratitude for fallen American heroes was evident in his Memorial Day speech at Arlington Cemetery in 2017. It can be found by searching “Time Trump Arlington.” Trump ended with God bless our fallen heroes.

In 2018 Trump was to give an address at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris with his Senior Staff present. There was heavy rain and strong wind and Trump had to cancel. It was that Staff meeting that Chief of Staff John Kelly claimed that President Trump called the fallen veterans at the cemetery cowards for getting shot and that they were “losers and suckers.”

Kelly then went to The Atlantic with his bogus story. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who flew to Paris with Trump called the John Kelly story “BS” and added, “I was actually there and one of the people part of the discussion.” She continued that this never happened. Another former Trump aide, Jordan Kar said that John Kelly’s story was “not even close to being factually accurate.”

 Kelly went to The Atlantic with his story. Kelly hasn’t denied The Atlantic’s story, but neither has he publicly confirmed it. It was picked up by 10 news outlets.  Annie Karni, White House correspondent for the Times, “Remarked about Kelly that a retired four-star general should not come out against a sitting president in the heat of a political campaign.”

Twelve news outlets requested an interview with Kelly. Kelly declined every one of them.

If I were to interview John Kelly, I would have only one question. Did you accept 30 pieces of silver?

Kevin Schultz
Huron