Mayra Guillen, the sister of deceased U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen, shot down an anonymous report from The Atlantic smearing former President Donald Trump, claiming that he offered to help pay for Guillen’s funeral but allegedly “became angry” over the cost and blurted out an expletive.
Guillen posted on X in a direct response to The Atlantic:
Wow. I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics – hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today.
Guillen added, “My sister’s death was never to be politicized. Unbelievable.”
The Atlantic is the same outlet that published the anonymous report claiming that Trump had called fallen World War II veterans “suckers and losers.” The outlet then, as now, did not name any sources. In fact, the reporter behind the new report, Jeffrey Goldberg, was the same reporter behind the “suckers and losers” report.
The Atlantic is owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, one of Vice President Kamala Harris’s largest donors.
The Atlantic‘s new report claimed that Trump had offered to help Guillen’s mother out with the costs of the funeral, but then eight months later during a December 4, 2020, Oval Office meeting, had asked about the costs. The Atlantic claimed, citing “attendees” and “contemporaneous notes” of the meeting taken by “a participant,” an aide told Trump the funeral cost $60,000, to which the outlet claimed that Trump “became angry” and said, “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” and turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” The outlet claimed that Trump later in the day — according to a “witness” said, “Fucking people, trying to rip me off.”
Meadows refuted the report, saying in a statement and later posting on X:
I was in the discussions featured in the Atlantic’s latest hit piece against President Trump. Let me say this. Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false. He was nothing but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Vanessa Guillen and her family.
Guillen reposted Meadows’ post. She had also told the Atlantic in a statement:
I am beyond grateful for all the support President Donald Trump showed our family during a trying time. I witnessed firsthand how President Trump honors our nation’s heroes’ service. We are grateful for everything he has done and continues to do to support our troops.
The Atlantic in its report tried to cast doubt on whether Guillen actually wrote that statement — which her later post on X made apparent she did.
Former Trump Pentagon Chief of Staff Kash Patel also refuted the report in a statement:
As someone who was present in the room with President Trump during that meeting on December 4, he strongly urged that Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s grieving family should not have to bear the cost of any funeral arrangements, even offering to personally pay himself in order to honor her life and sacrifice. In addition, President Trump was able to have the Department of Defense designate her death as occurring ‘in the line of duty,’ which gave her full military honors and provided her family access to benefits, services, and complete financial assistance.
Patel also said in response to the claim that Trump had called Guillen a “fucking Mexican”:
Of course, President Trump didn’t say that. President Trump ensured that this victim received full military honors.
Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfieffer said in a statement:
President Donald Trump never said that. This is an outrageous lie from the Atlantic two weeks before the election.
An Austin American-Statesman report confirmed that the Army ruled Guillen’s death as “in the line of duty,” which would allow the Guillen family to receive Army benefits, including compensation to help the family with expenses, a funeral with full military honors, life insurance, and final pay and allowances.
A fellow soldier, Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, is believed to have killed Guillen. Robinson fatally shot himself when local authorities confronted him. Twenty-five year old Cecily Aguilar of Killeen, Texas, was charged and sentenced with 30 years in prison for helping Robinson dismember, burn, and bury Guillen’s body.
The Atlantic also claimed that Trump said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” citing “two people who heard him say this.”
Pfeiffer, the Trump campaign adviser, said: “This is absolutely false. President Trump never said this,” adding:
President Donald Trump has spent his life caring for America’s military heroes. As President, he kept our troops out of harm’s way, secured the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, and signed historic VA reforms. As a private citizen, he has financially supported veterans and has forcefully advocated for the Kabul Gold Star families. There has been no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than Donald J. Trump.
Several families of the 13 U.S. troops who were killed during the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan submitted testimonies on behalf of Trump.
Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Nicole Gee said:
Trump has reached out when the current admin ignores Gold Star Families. I’ve grown to know him as approachable, honest, knowable about our veterans and above all strong in his belief that our armed service members are the finest the world has and deserve to be treated accordingly.
Darin Hoover, father of Marine Taylor Hoover said:
I support Donald Trump as my president because under his leadership, our military was SAFE. Trump put them first and their wellbeing first. Under his leadership, there were no new wars. There were no deployments to countries around the globe to quell the issues that we have now going on in this world. He actually cares about our men and women and the woke policies will go away as soon as he gets into office again.
Coral Dolittle, mother of Humberto Sanchez, said:
People often ask me why I support Donald Trump. The answer is simple. Media outlets and social media often portray him as heartless and indifferent, especially toward the military. However, after meeting the man behind the name, I saw a different side of him. Donald Trump is caring, compassionate, and has shown our military families how much he genuinely cares about us, our children, and our grief.
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