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Published 15:22 IST, September 5th 2020

'Fake story': Trump denies calling fallen soldiers 'losers', Melania speaks in support

Donald Trump refuted the report claiming that he called the fallen soldiers “losers” as “fake story” while the Melania Trump lashed out on such 'journalism'.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
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US President Donald Trump refuted the report claiming that he called the fallen soldiers “losers” as “fake story” while the US First Lady Melania Trump called it a “dangerous time” when such reports are being published. While addressing the press briefing on September 4, Trump said that it was a false report that was written by a magazine and the same has been confirmed by “many people” who were present there. 

The report published by Atlantic magazine had caused a stir in US politics especially when the presidential elections are around the corner. It had stated that Donald Trump said “Americans who died in the war are “losers” and “suckers”. Mentioning the 2018 visit to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, the magazine had said that US President dismissed the idea citing fear of his hair getting wet in the rain and because he did not believe in honouring the soldiers who died in the war. However, Trump has categorically denied making such remarks and said for him, the soldiers are “heroes”. 

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"It was a fake story written by a magazine that was probably not going to be around much longer. But it was a totally fake story, and that was confirmed by many people who were actually there," Trump told reporters.

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When asked if he needs to apologise to the service members and veterans, Trump denied again and talked about how his former national Security Adviser John Bolton who is not US President’s friend also mentioned that he didn’t hear Trump calling names to the fallen soldiers. Trump said in the press briefing that the ex-security adviser wrote an entire book after being removed from the administration and mentions the same incident as the magazine and left out the part where Trump called the soldiers who died in war ‘losers’.

While replying to a question, Trump said, “No, So, it's a fake story, and it's a disgrace that they're allowed to do it. And very interestingly... I hate to bring up his book but John Bolton, no friend of mine, I thought he was... didn't know too much about what he was doing,”

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“He didn't do a good job, but he wrote a book. And if you read it, he talks about this incident and he doesn't mention it...the military and especially people that have given their lives in the military... to me, they're heroes," he asserted.

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Melania Trump defends US President

In a rare public statement, US First Lady tagged the magazine in the tweet and announced that the report is ‘false’ on September 5. She also noted that the present-day journalism is just ‘activism’ and called it “dangerous times” as anonymous sources are trusted by media outlets. Melania Trump also said that such reports are “disservice” to the American citizens. 

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15:23 IST, September 5th 2020