Donald Trump on Tuesday again downplayed dozens of U.S. soldiers getting traumatic brain injuries from Iranian airstrikes under his watch, telling a reporter dismissively that “they had headaches.”
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Trump was asked about the January 2020 airstrikes near U.S. forces in Iraq, in light of how Iran launched a missile attack against Israel earlier Tuesday.
“Do you believe that you should have been tougher on Iran after they had launched ballistic missiles in 2020 in Iraq, leaving more than 100 U.S. soldiers injured?” the reporter asked, referencing Iran’s response to the U.S. drone killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
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“So, first of all. Injured. What does injured mean? Injured means—you mean, because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort?” he said.
“Just so you understand: There was never anybody tougher on Iraq,” Trump continued, confusing the site of the strikes with the country behind it.
“If you were a truthful reporter, which you’re not, you would tell the following: None of those very accurate missiles hit our fort,” he continued. “They all hit outside, and there was nobody hurt other than the sound was loud and some people said that hurt, and I accept that.”
Tuesday wasn’t the first time Trump has minimized those troops’ injuries. A few weeks after the strikes, Trump falsely claimed that “no Americans were harmed.” According to the Defense Department, 109 troops had suffered traumatic brain injuries.
In Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz alluded to Trump’s history of shrugging off the fallout from the strikes.
“When Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops and they received traumatic brain injuries,” he said, “Donald Trump wrote it off as ‘headaches.’”
