JUDY WOODRUFF:
Now: new questions surrounding the deaths of 4 Inexperienced Berets within the Western African nation of Niger and the function of the president as consoler in chief.
John Yang has the story.
JOHN YANG:
Sending younger Individuals into hurt’s approach may be probably the most critical choice a president makes. Consoling the households of the fallen has grow to be the newest controversy to engulf President Trump.
To bolster his declare that he does greater than his predecessors, Mr. Trump as we speak invoked the useless son of his chief of employees, retired Marine basic John Kelly.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
To one of the best of my information, I feel I’ve known as each household of any individual that is died. Now, so far as different representatives, I do not know. I imply, you could possibly ask Basic Kelly, did he get a name from Obama?
JOHN YANG:
Kelly’s 29-year-old son, Robert, a Marine lieutenant, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan, an episode Kelly not often talks about publicly. Kelly and his spouse did attend a 2011 Memorial Day breakfast President Obama hosted for Gold Star households.
President Trump ignited the furor when he was requested about his public silence on 4 Inexperienced Berets killed two weeks in the past in Niger.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
When you take a look at President Obama and different presidents, most of them did not make calls. Quite a lot of them did not make calls. I prefer to name when it is acceptable, once I suppose I can do it.
JOHN YANG:
Reporters pressed him to again up the declare.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I do not know. That is what I used to be informed. All I can do — all I can do is ask my generals.
JOHN YANG:
The response from former Obama officers was swift and forceful.
Former Legal professional Basic Eric Holder tweeted this picture and insisted: “Cease the rattling mendacity. I went to Dover Air Pressure base with 44 and noticed him consolation households,” a reference to one in all Mr. Obama’s late-night journeys to pay his respects to troops killed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush typically visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, a observe Mr. Trump has continued. In February, the president and his daughter Ivanka went to Dover for the return of the stays of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, the primary casualty of his administration.
To date this yr, the Pentagon says 16 Individuals have been killed in motion. One other 17 sailors died in accidents. Within the first yr of the Obama presidency, 344 had been killed in motion.
Throughout final yr’s marketing campaign, Mr. Trump publicly feuded with the Khans, the mother and father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, after they criticized him on the Democratic Conference.
At this time, the Khans mentioned: “President Trump’s egocentric and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the excessive workplace of the presidency.”
The present controversy comes as questions are being raised about how and why the 4 troopers died in Niger.
Senator Jack Reed is the highest Democrat on the Armed Providers Committee.
SEN. JACK REED, D-R.I.:
I feel the administration needs to be way more clear about our function in Niger and our function in different areas in Africa and different elements of the globe.
JOHN YANG:
The Pentagon is investigating the deaths. Reportedly among the many questions, did commanders adequately assess the chance, and was there prepared entry to medical help?
At this time, President Trump known as the households of the 4 useless Inexperienced Berets.
For the PBS NewsHour, I am John Yang.
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