Did President Obama Call Families of Fallen Soldiers
Stephanie Fisher got the alphabetic character about a calendar week later, delivered by an ground forces casualty aid officeholder: the president of the United States wished to express his condolences over the decease of her son.
Staff Sgt Thomas Kent Fogarty, a 30-year-onetime male parent of two, was killed in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan in May 2012 by an improvised explosive device.
"I was very comforted. I actually felt similar I could take picked up the phone and said 'look, my son died … and I demand to talk to President Obama.' I kind of feel similar I might have been able to become a concur of him," Fisher said. "I felt like my son got lots of respect."
Trump drags White House chief of staff John Kelly into the developing row, proverb: "You could ask Gen Kelly, did he become a call from Obama?", a reference to the death of Kelly's son in Afghanistan.
","unixDate":1508198400000},{"title":" ","engagement":"17 October 2017","body":"Trump phones the widow of Sgt La David Johnson and reportedly says Johnson "knew what he was signing up for", co-ordinate to Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswomen who heard the call.
","unixDate":1508198400000},{"title":" ","date":"17 October 2017","body":"Wilson criticizes Trump's reported remark equally \"so insensitive\". In response, Trump claims Wilson's account is "totally fabricated" but Johnson's mother supports Wilson's version of events.
","unixDate":1508198400000},{"title":" ","date":"18 October 2017","body":"White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Kelly is "disgusted and frustrated" past the politicization of his son'south death – fifty-fifty though it was Trump who first mentioned him.
","unixDate":1508284800000},{"title":"Enter John Kelly ","appointment":"19 October 2017","trunk":"Kelly delivers a rebuke to critics of Trump in an emotional press conference but fails to acknowledge that the controversy began after Trump attacked Obama.
","unixDate":1508371200000},{"title":" ","date":"20 October 2017","body":"Sanders says it would exist "highly inappropriate" to question Kelly, a four-star full general, a annotate that causes outcry in itself.
","unixDate":1508457600000},{"championship":" ","date":"21 October 2017","body":"On the day of Sgt Johnson'south funeral, Trump refuses to let the affair residual, referring to Wilson as \"Wacky Congresswoman Wilson\" in a tweet.
","unixDate":1508544000000},{"championship":" ","engagement":"23 October 2017","body":"Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt Johnson, says Trump'due south condolence call \"fabricated me weep even worse\". Trump disputes her business relationship immediately after the interview aires.
","unixDate":1508775823000}],"description":"
Timeline How the controversy over Trump's condolence telephone call unfolded
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Soldiers killed in Niger
Four US army special forces troops and five soldiers from Niger die in an deadfall during a joint patrol in the south-westward of the state.
The row begins
Asked why he has non spoken nearly the incident, Trump discusses his calls to bereaved families, saying: "If you look at President Obama and other presidents, nearly of them didn't make calls – a lot of them didn't make calls."
Trump drags White House primary of staff John Kelly into the developing row, saying: "You could enquire Gen Kelly, did he become a telephone call from Obama?", a reference to the death of Kelly'south son in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan.
Trump phones the widow of Sgt La David Johnson and reportedly says Johnson "knew what he was signing up for", according to Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswomen who heard the phone call.
Wilson criticizes Trump'southward reported remark equally "so insensitive". In response, Trump claims Wilson'due south account is "totally fabricated" but Johnson'due south female parent supports Wilson'southward version of events.
White House printing secretarial assistant Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Kelly is "disgusted and frustrated" by the politicization of his son'south death – even though information technology was Trump who showtime mentioned him.
Enter John Kelly
Kelly delivers a rebuke to critics of Trump in an emotional press conference but fails to acknowledge that the controversy began after Trump attacked Obama.
Sanders says information technology would exist "highly inappropriate" to question Kelly, a four-star general, a annotate that causes outcry in itself.
On the mean solar day of Sgt Johnson'due south funeral, Trump refuses to let the matter rest, referring to Wilson as "Wacky Congresswoman Wilson" in a tweet.
Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt Johnson, says Trump's condolence telephone call "made me cry fifty-fifty worse". Trump disputes her account immediately later the interview aires.
Donald Trump painted a contrasting picture of Barack Obama and his predecessors this week. Asked in a news conference on Monday well-nigh his silence regarding the four special forces soldiers killed during an ambush in Niger on 4 October, Trump said: "If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't brand calls. A lot of them didn't make calls".
He modified that claim when questioned: "President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn't. I don't know. That'due south what I was told."
Obama's standard exercise appears to accept been to write to bereaved relatives of military members and run across with many of them in person, and to make occasional telephone calls that the White Business firm did non publicise.
Regardless of the contact method, Trump'southward implication was clear: that Obama disrespected the families of fallen soldiers by a lack of personal effort. Such a claim surfaced in conservative media during his presidency and was besides levelled at George W Bush in 2003, though the Washington Times reported five years later that Bush spent considerable fourth dimension contacting bereaved families.
On Tuesday, Trump told Fob News Radio: "I don't know what Bush-league did. I don't know what Obama did." But he again took a swipe at his predecessor, suggesting it would be worth asking Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, if he received a call from Obama after Kelly's son died in Transitional islamic state of afghanistan in 2010.
As a candidate, Trump was widely condemned for a verbal assail on the parents of Humayun Khan, a soldier who died in Iraq in 2004, after his father, Khizr Khan, gave a speech at last year's Autonomous national convention. Trump insisted that he writes messages and calls the families of military members killed in action.
Several former Obama and Bush aides and supporters reacted angrily to his comments, denouncing them as false, and retired general Martin Dempsey, a quondam chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Twitter that Obama, Bush "and first ladies cared deeply, worked tirelessly for the serving, the fallen, and their families. Non politics. Sacred Trust."
Fisher, the bereaved mother, said that Trump's exclamation did non ring true to her. "Obama's administration seemed to me to be very much engaged with the families," she said. "Constantly, everything that he gets criticised for, President Trump, he immediately puts it on previous presidents, peculiarly President Obama. He misses no opportunity to deflect."
Michelle DeFord'south son, Army Sgt David Johnson, was killed by a roadside bomb in Republic of iraq in 2004, anile 37. She met Obama when she went to Washington to antechamber for the 2015 Islamic republic of iran nuclear bargain that Trump appears intent on undermining.
"I have pictures of Obama giving me a hug when he constitute out that I was a Gold Star mother," she said, adding that she was touched past a letter of the alphabet from the former starting time lady, Michelle Obama, inviting her to contribute to a Christmas tree that paid tribute to deceased armed forces members and their families.
"You had a sense of their appreciation and their acknowledgement of your sacrifice," DeFord said. "I kind of remember of soldiers as being in the employ of the federal authorities, so I would think information technology would be but standard procedure when y'all lose an employee to send a alphabetic character of condolence to the family, that's the president's job in my opinion."
Karen Meredith'south son, 1st Lt Ken Ballard, was killed by small arms burn in Iraq on 30 May 2004 – Memorial Day. "I can assure you that nobody is sitting around waiting for a letter of the alphabet from the president to move on with their grief. The contact comes among numerous messages of condolence that yous get from members of the military, members of Congress, members of your community," she said.
Still, Meredith finds information technology surprising that the White House seemingly did non promptly send messages to the families of the soldiers killed in Niger. "Especially with General Kelly, the master of staff, who's a Gilded Star father who would accept known that it'south part of your job as the commander-in-chief to console grieving families. I'm just shocked that nobody on the staff took intendance of it for him," she said.
The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said on Tuesday evening that Trump had spoken with the families of the iv soldiers and "offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their families' extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten."
Meredith recalled that her alphabetic character from the White Business firm arrived within a calendar week or so. No fan of Bush, she said that had he tried to telephone call she probably would take declined to speak with him.
"I almost returned [my letter] without opening it because I didn't want to hear from Bush," she said. "When I opened the alphabetic character it was very casual and very familiar, equally opposed to being a formal letter of condolence. He addressed me every bit Karen not Ms Meredith and that was not what I expected from the president, I expected it to be more formal … it was 'Dear Karen, Laura and I are existent sorry about this'."
Meredith met Obama and the former vice-president, Joe Biden, at her son's grave in Arlington National Cemetery. "He was very sympathetic and compassionate, equally was Mrs Obama, then were the Bidens," she said. "Trump doesn't have an compassionate bone in his body and doesn't sympathize the importance of hearing from the commander in main. This is ultimately his responsibility."
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/18/condolences-gold-star-families-barack-obama-donald-trump