Donald Trump on Sunday called for President Joe Biden to take down an attack ad featuring a series of quotes attributed to the Republican in which he mocks dead soldiers.
The former president’s demand came on the same day that Biden honored fallen troops in a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France, the burial ground that Trump chose not to visit in 2018 and was later reported to have done so while describing the site as “filled with losers.” Trump has denied making the remark—and another in which he allegedly called more than 1,800 Marines “suckers” for being killed—ever since The Atlantic first published his purported words in 2020.
Those denials continued Sunday, first at a rally in Las Vegas. “He said I stood over graves of soldiers and I said: ‘These people are suckers and losers, the dead soldiers from World War I,’’ Trump said, referring to Biden. He went on to claim the whole episode was “made up” and, despite the Biden campaign knowing it’s “phony,” they still “took an ad using it—these are sick people.”
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Trump appeared to be referring to an attack ad launched by the Biden campaign on Friday during the president’s visit to Normandy for ceremonies commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The video featured the reported “suckers” and “losers” quotes, along with audio of Trump mocking the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as being thought of as a “war hero” because he was captured during the Vietnam War. “I like people that weren’t captured,” Trump added.
“Donald Trump doesn’t know a damn thing about service to his country,” read a post on Biden’s X account featuring the clip.
At the rally in Vegas, Trump accused his political opponents of fabricating stories about him in order to get elected. “Unless you’re a psycho or a crazy person or a very stupid person, who would say that, anyway?” Trump said, referring to the “suckers” and “losers” comments.
He also took a swipe at the “geniuses” who advised him simply not to mention the allegation. “It just never goes away, I gotta mention it,” Trump told his supporters. “I don’t like mentioning it. But for me to say ‘suckers and losers’ about people that died in World War I in front of military people? It’s not a possibility you could say a thing like that.”
Trump’s fury about the matter continued in a pair of Truth Social posts Sunday. He dismissed the “losers and suckers” claim as “another Democrat Disinformation ‘hit job’” and said only “a sicko with an axe to grind would suggest that anyone would make such a statement.”
“They even made these horrific words into an advertisement, which shows how desperate they are,” the post continued. “No President, especially ‘dumb as a rock’ Joe Biden, has done more for our Military than DONALD J. TRUMP. The Military hates Crooked Joe, and all of the failure he represents. Take down the Fake Ad, Joe, and stop the unprecedented Weaponization of ‘Justice’ against your Political Opponent.”
In another post, he again claimed to have “never said that dead Soldiers are ‘losers and suckers.’” “Anytime you see that despicable FAKE statement used, remember that it comes from the FASCIST SCUM that is destroying our Country,” he wrote.
