CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that former President Donald Trump called men and women serving in the military “suckers and losers.”
VERDICT: False.
During an interview on The Breakfast Club with host Charlamagne tha God on Tuesday night, Harris reiterated the debunked claim that Trump called military service members “suckers,” and “losers.” The claim is based on an article published by the Atlantic in September 2020.
“He has, on your point about the military, referred to members of our military as suckers and losers,” Harris said during her interview. “Which is why by the way — do see the number of military leaders who worked under his administration who are supporting me.”
In the article from the Atlantic, the outlet claims that Trump refused to visit Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France and that he questioned senior staff members about why he should go to the cemetery, saying, “It’s filled with losers.”
Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollak has previously reported that after the article was released, President Joe Biden claimed the story had been “confirmed by every outlet.” Despite Biden’s claim, no other outlet “corroborated the Atlantic‘s claim.”
No one else has corroborated the Atlantic‘s claim. Even Fox News’ Jenniffer Griffin, who claimed that she had “confirmed” other details in the story (from two similarly anonymous sources), could not confirm the Atlantic‘s “suckers” and “losers” claim.
Moreover, more a dozen current and former Trump administration officials have publicly and demonstratively denied the claims in the Atlantic article — including former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has become a Trump critic.
Despite the debunked claim, Democrats such as former President Barack Obama, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Biden have continued to claim that Trump called military service members “suckers” and “losers.”
In October 2020, Obama repeated the debunked claim during a drive-in rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Obama told the crowd that Biden “would never call” military service members “suckers or losers.”
During the Democratic National Convention in August, Kelly and former Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta repeated the “suckers” and “losers” claim.
