In several conversations since the article was published on Thursday, Trump has vehemently denied making comments and touting what he did for the military. Two people who spoke to him said it clearly shows how much the story resonated with Trump – and his fears that it could hurt his support in the military.
When the story first surfaced Thursday, Trump was angered by his flight from Pennsylvania and demanded that aides begin to deny it. This included sending his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to the rear of Air Force One to tell reporters that this was not true. His outraged response prompted officials to mobilize a massive counter-effort that began Thursday night.
By the weekend, however, Trump looked more depressed than outraged over the accusations against him based on his conversations.
It was a relatively quiet weekend in the White House until Trump decided he wanted to hold a press conference on Labor Day. As the assistants believed, the story dies down,
Trump blames the Pentagon’s top military leadership what he owes to defense contractors is an astonishing comment from a president trying to enlist the support of these people. Privately, Trump was upset that much of the Pentagon’s top leadership did not protect him in
after the Atlantic story and some saw this as the answer to that.
Meadows said Tuesday morning that Trump was not referring to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, former Raytheon chief lobbyist, or Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milli, when he made the comments – although it is unclear who Trump would have referred to instead.
“All the president is saying is that over the decades, some high-profile professional politicians and Pentagon officials have shown unwillingness to end our endless wars,” a White House spokesman told CNN. “This president supports our front line soldiers and our great generals, and wants to end these conflicts responsibly in order to bring our troops home.”
Trump’s relationship with Esper has deteriorated significantly, with CNN reported that he will almost certainly be replaced if Trump is re-elected.
It is also unclear how Trump’s disdain for the “military-industrial complex” fits into his efforts to broker arms sales abroad – a central element of his foreign policy – including to countries like Saudi Arabia.
The White House has repeatedly pointed to record denials from aides such as Sarah Sanders and Zach Fuentes challenging a specific case of what happened during Trump’s November 2018 Paris trip, one of the incidents.
set out by The Atlantic…
But it was obvious to some that denials from people who might have strangled the story did not materialize, including former Chief of Staff John Kelly or Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time. Kelly and Dunford went to Ein Marn Cemetery instead of Trump when his trip was canceled due to rain.
Additional reports have been added to this story.
