In Trump Called Troops Losers Debunked

In Trump Called Troops Losers Debunked I debunk the notion that President Trump called our troops losers and suckers.
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MACCALLUM: At today's White House news conference, President Trump aggressively pushing back against claims that he spoke disparagingly about U.S. military during a 2018 visit to France.

TRUMP: The story is a hoax and it's a disgrace. Who would say anything like that? Only an animal would say a thing like that. Even John Bolton came out and said that was untrue.

MACCALLUM: Former national security adviser John Bolton joins me now. He is the author of 'The Room Where It Happened.' Good to have you with us this evening. Mr. Bolton, what's your reaction to what the president had to say about this whole incident?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Well, in fact he was responding to an article in the Atlantic magazine from the last Thursday night and the article itself is a mash up of all kinds of allegations. What he thinks of John McCain which I thought was largely accurate and what he happened to say in Paris on the day before Armistice Day, the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, getting ready to go visit French President Macron.

And according to what that article said the president made disparaging remarks about our soldiers, the people buried at the Aisne-Marne cemetery in connection with the decision for him not to go to the ceremony that was planned that afternoon and that was simply false. I don't know who told the author that but that was false and I recounted that in my book, room where it happened and reaffirmed that in response to questions, the next day.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean you've heard the back and forth between reporters on this. Jennifer Griffin came on today and said that she stands by her sources, she says that you were not 'in the room' where it happened when this was discussed. What do you say to that?

BOLTON: Well, she's just flatly wrong. Look, I can tell you exactly what it was. We were in the Ambassador's residence in Paris. We were supposed to be having a 10:30 meeting to brief the president for his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at 11. The president was late, which was frequently the case.

I don't think the entire fair lasted more than 10 or 15 minutes and the main issue was whether or not weather conditions permitted the president to go out to the Aisne-Marne cemetery. The people I recall being there were John Kelly, one of his aides, Mike Pompeo, myself, Jamie McCourt, our ambassador to France.

We had this discussion, it was mostly John Kelly presenting the logistical reasons why the trip couldn't take place and the president assented to the recommendations that he not go. He didn't protest that he really needed to go. He just sort of took the facts as they were, a very straight weather call.

After that meeting just for what it's worth, we then went to the Elysee Palace for the President to meet with Macron. That lasted until about 12:45. The two presidents were joined by the two first ladies for lunch, just the four of them that lasted into the afternoon. The president then went back to the embassy and a dinner that night for the heads of state who were attending and that was the schedule that day.

MACCALLUM: I guess you know and as I say, Jennifer Griffin stands by her sources, perhaps there was another discussion that happened in another area that they were privy to and that is her reporting on this but you know, I guess the bigger question is this question of the president's general attitude towards the military because I think what people see is very different from what they're hearing from these generals.

And he says that the rank and file is supportive of him, he believes but that some of the leadership at the Pentagon who did not like some of the decisions that he made with regard to standing by the Kurds or with drawing down troops in Afghanistan is where the divide is and that perhaps that's why they are putting out these messages and putting his comments in light that makes him look terrible.

Do you agree or disagree?

BOLTON: Look obviously, I can't prove the negative that he never said those things. The president has a habit of disparaging people, he ends up denigrating almost everybody that he comes in contact with whose last name is not Trump. I was simply responding to what I thought was the main point of the Atlantic article, that at the critical point Saturday morning when the decision was made not to go to Aisne-Marne that he made the disparaging remarks and he did not.