‘The President Wasn’t Criticizing Predecessors, but Stating a Fact’ Huckabee Sanders Claims. She’s Wrong.
President Donald Trump is under fire for lying to try to cover up his decision to not call the families of the four U.S. service members killed in action in Niger 12 days ago. Not only has the Commander-in-Chief not called the families, he has yet to even send them letters of condolence. Trump today said they will be sent out by tomorrow.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders however is standing up for her boss, as she often does, by lying.
“The President wasn’t criticizing predecessors, but stating a fact,” the White House press secretary, as Raw Story reported, offered up in a twisted defense.Â
“When American heroes make the ultimate sacrifice, Presidents pay their respects. Sometimes they call, sometimes they send a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet family members in person. This president, like his predecessors, has done each of these,” Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Individuals claiming former Presidents, such as their bosses, called each family of the fallen, are mistaken,” she claimed.
But that’s not the issue.Â
The issue is that 12 days after the soldiers were killed in action, President Trump hasn’t called, hasn’t met with, and hasn’t written the families.
Period.
Zero contact.
And that’s not something that presidents in modern times have ever done.
Asked about it Monday afternoon at a spurt-of-the-moment press event, Trump tried to spin his inability to fulfill one of his most important duties as President, by claiming his predecessors, including President Barack Obama, didn’t contact families of the fallen.
“I will, at some point during the period of time, call the parents and the families — because I have done that, traditionally,” Trump told reporters Monday. “I felt very, very badly about that. I always feel badly. It’s the toughest — the toughest calls I have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. It’s a very difficult thing. Now, it gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them in one day — it’s a very, very tough day. For me, that’s by far the toughest.”
Of course Trump is making it about himself again.
“So, the traditional way — if you look at President Obama and other Presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it. They have made the ultimate sacrifice.”
One former top Obama aide called Trump’s claim “a f*cking lie.”Â
She’s correct.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders calls it “a fact.”
She’s wrong.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she cares about and supports our troops – this just two days ago:
She should learn where to draw the line with her boss.
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