Donald Trump contacted the families of US troops that were killed in the Kabul Airport suicide bombing inciden, reports The washington Post.
It happened after Trump criticized Biden over the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Despite having assisted in the withdrawal, Trump claims he could have handled it better.
These families were supposedly, contacted by Former President Donald Trump, in an attempt to discredit Joe Biden by exploiting the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Washington Post reported that Trump contacted several families of the 13 US service members killed in the suicide bombing at Kabul airport on August 26. Among them, Darin Hoover, whose 31-year-old son, a US Marine, was one of the victims.
As per the Post, Hoover told, “It was just very cordial, very understanding. He was awesome.”
At the Dover Air Base ceremony on August 29, when the remains of those killed were repatriated, Hoover was one of several relatives who declined to meet President Joe Biden.
Shana Chappell, whose son Kareem was killed in the incident, said she had invited Trump to attend his funeral in a Facebook post earlier this week. In previous posts, she had blamed Biden for the killings.
Trump responded in an emailed statement, “Thank you, Shana,” adding, “our Country loves you and especially loves your beautiful boy, Kareem.”
Some of those who did meet Biden was critical of his response. One father of a Marine killed in the incident claimed that Biden’s statements to them were centered on his own son’s death, while others criticized him for checking his watch during the ceremony.
Trump has tried to damage Biden politically by attacking the US withdrawal process. The former president has generally been silent about his part in arranging the Taliban withdrawal agreement, which Biden chose to honor. Trump had wanted Biden to leave sooner before the pullout happened.
In a recent Newsmax interview, Trump, who has been fueling rumors that he may run for president again in 2024, branded the withdrawal as “the most incompetently handled withdrawal, or anything else, in the history of our country.”
Trump said he would have handled things differently, ensuring the evacuation of US civilians before withdrawing the military.
He made an attack on US Afghanistan policy into a seemingly unrelated statement criticizing the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee in Virginia which took place Wednesday, saying that “if only we had Robert E. Lee to command our troops in Afghanistan, that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago.”
Trump’s record with the families of the slain US military, known as Gold Star families, is confused. After criticizing Trump’s comments on Muslims during his 2016 campaign, Trump insulted the family of a Marine killed in Iraq.
When Trump’s words disparaging fallen US service members surfaced in 2020, it drew significant condemnation, with two families telling the Associated Press they were “outraged and offended” by the remarks.
He had also been criticized for his remarks to the widow of Army Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, who was killed in military action in Niger in 2017. She claimed Trump had stumbled over Johnson’s name.
