The Trump White House has reportedly been express mailing condolence letters to Gold Star families months after the deaths occurred.
The Trump White House has reportedly been express mailing condolence letters to Gold Star families months after the deaths occurred.
According to The Atlantic which broke the story Saturday, three families have told the publication that they received rush-delivered messages from the administration this week.
The late service members--Timothy Eckels Jr., Corey Ingram, and John M. Hoagland III-- had been killed about two months ago in an accident involving the USS John S. McCain.
At least one of the families has attributed the White House’s move to recent questions over President Trump’s communications with fallen soldiers' loved ones.
"Honestly, I feel the letter is reactionary to the media storm brewing over how these things have been handled," Timothy Eckels Sr. told The Atlantic. "I’ve received letters from McCain, Mattis, and countless other officials before his.”
The controversy for the administration began last week after a reporter asked Trump about his seeming lack of response to U.S. soldiers killed in Niger, and he responded, in part, by saying, “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.”
The following day, Trump stood by his response, saying on a Fox News radio program that he has called "virtually" every family of service members who have died since he took office.
However, since the president made that claim, the Associated Press reported Friday that it tried to contact the families of the 43 service members who have died under his command, and of those who were reached and were willing to respond, at least nine said they had not heard from Trump.
