Mayra Guillén, the younger sister of slain Hispanic U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillén, on Wednesday blasted The Atlantic for its anonymously-sourced hit piece on the eve of the presidential election claiming that former President Donald Trump disrespected her sister, calling it “a lie from the very beginning.”
Guillén in an interview Fox News’ Ingram Angle Tuesday evening called the reporter of the hit piece “vile” and said he misled her as to what his article would be about when he contacted her in January. The article published on Monday, and claimed that Trump offered then refused to pay for her funeral and called her sister a “fucking Mexican.”
Guillén said about the hit piece: “It was just hurtful in all kinds of ways. It brought back so many bad memories that we had given up already. After four long years, and it was just a stop in the face to my family and myself, mainly being the main spokesperson for them, and for my sister, who unfortunately passed away. It was just a lie from the very beginning, and it was very upsetting.”
After the piece published on Monday, Guillén posted on X that Trump showed her family nothing but respect, and revealed that she voted for him.
The Guillén family’s lawyer, Natalie Khawam, who appeared with Guillén on Fox News, said that the reporter, Jeffrey Goldberg, first told her that the story would be about the four year anniversary of Guillén’s death, and the change it sparked in how the U.S. military handled sexual assault. Guillén was killed by a fellow soldier after she faced sexual harassment while serving.
The sisters Vanessa Guillen, Lupe, right, and Mayra, speak during a news conference outside the Capitol to reintroduce the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act, which allows military victims of sexual harassment and assault to report incidents outside the chain of command, on Thursday, May 13, 2021. Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen, 20, had reported harassment prior to her murder. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty)
“When he first reached out to me, and he said he was interested in doing a four year story, the four year anniversary of Vanessa’s murder story,” Khawam said. “It wasn’t really about, you know, talking about Vanessa here, it was just about a gotcha with Trump.”
Guillén said she was also misled by Goldberg, and when she learned what the piece would be about, said she did not want to be part of the story, but that he published it anyway.
“Initially, when we first spoke, he did mention that this was going to be again, a wrap up of the four year anniversary and how we passed legislation, and all the achievements that were done in Vanessa’s honor,” she said.
“He never, not once mentioned any of the comments that he was going to put in this article or how it was going to be published this late in the year. He said it was going to be around April. And I never saw the article, I didn’t follow up, and it was surprising enough to see how he reached out to Natalie shortly about what was it two days ago, just wanting to confirm what was said, and I released a statement to him, letting him know that I was not happy about what he was going to release, and I did not wish to be a part of it anymore, or have my sister’s name be a part of that article, and he still proceeded to not only publish it, but basically stain my sister’s image with this, and it’s very upsetting,” she said.
Guillén confirmed that she voted for Trump for president, something she said she had not intended to discuss, but was “pushed to do so” in order to defend her sister’s name.
“That is correct. I would usually not ever speak about what my political influence was, or what I thought about politics, because I worked with both parties initially when I wanted to get the bill across, not only to honor my sister, but for the benefit of the country and our military members,” she said.
“Now, it’s like I was pushed to do so, and I’m glad that I’m now speaking on it, because I didn’t want to be in the shadows anymore or simply just see how they take advantage of the situation in order to make this an election thing, my sister’s name was never to be used or staying in this direction, and that’s what they did. So I’m going to do now is defend her name and myself and my political views, and this is where I stand.”
She added as to why she was voting for Trump, “The last four years have been full of disappointments.”
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