Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended President Trump on Tuesday from the now-infamous Atlantic report citing anonymous sources who claim he insulted fallen American soldiers.
“I literally traveled all over the world with him. I sat in the Oval Office when the president called to offer condolences to parents whose sons had been killed in the line of duty. That takes a toll on a person. The president did that, and I watched that, and I saw his heart in those moments. I also saw him overseas, make us take a separate stop when we were going to stop at 2 o’clock in the morning and wanted to visit the troops,” Sanders said during an appearance on ABC News’ “The View.”
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“I watched him time and time again and on the instance that was written about in the Atlantic, I was one of the few people that were in the room. I’m not an anonymous source. I’m going on the record and I’m telling you it didn’t happen,” Sanders continued. “That’s not who this president is and that’s not how he feels about the men and women who serve in our military.”
Trump and many from the White House staff have forcibly denied the allegations published in The Atlantic on Thursday, alleging, according to four unnamed sources, that the president referred to dead soldiers buried at the Aisne-Marne American cemetery near Paris as "suckers" and that the land was "filled with losers" during his visit to France in 2018.
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Co-host Meghan McCain then said she has spoken to Trump directly about similar stories and she believes he is aware of the damage his rhetoric can cause.
“The problem with this story is it seems like something he would do, and I don’t doubt that you’ve had experiences, and I’ve seen videos with President Trump with troops and his family, but this has not been my experience. I know for me and my brothers who serve, we do not feel respected,” McCain said. “We are a military family that does not feel respected or appreciated by this president.”
Also in the bombshell report, Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic's editor in chief, wrote, "When [John] McCain died, in August 2018, Trump told his senior staff, according to three sources with direct knowledge of this event, 'We're not going to support that loser's funeral,' and he became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. 'What the f--- are we doing that for? Guy was a f---ing loser,' the president told aides."
Following the show, McCain took to Twitter to thank Sanders for appearing.
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Before Sanders joined “The View,” McCain discussed the role her late father played in the story earlier in the episode.
“I would like a heads up beforehand, which everyone... traditionally journalists have done before, had had the respect knowing, I think, as public and painful as this continues to be, and trust me, it has been painful the past few days, having to re-live this. It happened right after the second anniversary of my dad’s death,” McCain said. “I think that my mother and my family deserve a heads up... and I do believe that President Trump probably said this.”
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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