The president delivers a punch below the belt
Oct 17, 2017, 7:23 AM | Updated: 1:45 pm
On Oct. 29, 2009, President Barack Obama, center, salutes as an Army carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind., during a dignified transfer event at Dover Air Force Base, Del. President Donald Trump is claiming his predecessors did not sufficiently honor the nation's fallen. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
The president seemed to punch below the belt at Monday’s news conference.
When he was asked why he hadn’t yet contacted the families of the four Green Berets killed in an ambush in Niger almost two weeks ago, Trump began riffing on what previous presidents did.
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“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.”
Reporters were a little surprised by the implication. A few minutes later, he backtracked, somewhat.
“President Obama, I think probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn’t. I don’t know, that’s what I was told.”
We all know the president is a busy man, but just to square the record, a report from nine months into the Obama administration shows that the former president did more than make a call.
“President Obama left the White House just before midnight. He landed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware,” the CBS Evening News reported Oct. 29, 2009. “A C-17 transport plane had just arrived there, bearing the remains of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan.”
“After meeting privately with their families, the president and other dignitaries boarded the plane to welcome the fallen heroes home and join a chaplain in a brief prayer.”
The White House press office said President Trump wasn’t implying any criticism of previous presidents, only stating facts. Which is a good thing, so I thought I’d do it too.
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