As we reported, after The Atlantic ran a hit piece about what President Donald Trump supposedly said in a meeting about a murdered soldier in 2020, the soldier's sister, the family attorney, and multiple people who were involved called out the story and/or debunked it.
The soldier's sister Mayra Guillen tweeted against the article, accusing them of exploiting her sister.
Wow.
— Mayra Guillen (@mguilen_) October 22, 2024
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. https://t.co/o8cDrKOKBV
Then she went on Fox News and said she was misled about the article. When she found out what it was going to be about, she said she told them that she didn't wish her sister's name to be a part of it, but they disregarded what she said and published it anyway.
Now, the author of the article and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, made an appearance on CNN and claimed to "feel very sorry" for the family.
GROSS: The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg claps back at @mguillen_ on CNN, lecturing the family that, while he “understands the sensitives” surrounding the late Private Vanessa Guillen and that they're “hurt by — by this story,” he argues “the fact remains” indisputable Trump said… pic.twitter.com/WbaTwrm4E7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 23, 2024
“In terms of the — the sister, I understand why they're hurt by — by this story, and I — I obviously feel very sorry as we all do for this family, but the fact remains when the family visited Donald Trump, as I note in the story, he said kind words and offered to pay for the funeral. Five months later, when the subject came up, he had very unkind things to say about the funeral, and I would note that he didn't pay for the funeral. So, again, I understand the sensitivities around this, but the truth is the truth and people in the meeting — people who had become somewhat inured to Donald Trump's method of speaking were shocked by what was said and — and that's how I learned about it.”
Yeah, this is gross, especially after the family and people in the meeting have already debunked this and he has no named source regarding the comment about Vanessa Guillen. He's supposedly writing about disregard for a Gold Star family, yet he's disregarding them in the process.
It was reported in Oct. 2020 that the military was taking care of the funeral because her death was designated in the line of duty, entitling the family to benefits. Trump had said he would pay, if there needed to be anything paid.
As we noted the family attorney called out Goldberg saying he "lied" in the story and pointed to the interesting timing of this story now (right before the election).
After having dealt with hundreds of reporters in my legal career, this is unfortunately the first time I have to go on record and call out Jeffrey Goldberg@the Atlantic: not only did he misrepresent our conversation but he outright LIED in HIS sensational story.
— Attorney Natalie Khawam (@WhistleblowerLF) October 22, 2024
More… https://t.co/uJtfsNTo37
Khawam and Mayra Guillen were also on Fox and lit into him.
Guillen Family Attorney @WhistleblowerLF: When President Trump invited us to the Oval Office, he was gracious with this family. He didn't have to do that. He opened his doors up to this Mexican-American family.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 23, 2024
When Biden came in, he didn't invite this family. We didn't have the… pic.twitter.com/s4gv7CmEJm
Mayra Guillen, sister of Vanessa Guillen, says disgraced hack @JeffreyGoldberg's decision to politicize her sister's murder to falsely attack President Trump was "vile," "a lie from the beginning," and "a slap in the face to my family." pic.twitter.com/9VmJ1NTB8Y
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 23, 2024
Trump's former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who was in the meeting, said it never happened. His staffer Ben Williamson said his email regarding Meadows' response to the question was misrepresented in the article.
On the left: I sent Atlantic a comment saying President Trump “absolutely did not say that,” referring to the alleged comments about Ms. Guillen they printed.
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) October 22, 2024
On the right: Atlantic translated that comment to “didn’t hear Trump say it.”
Treat this dishonest piece accordingly. pic.twitter.com/pM1o1c9fEm
As to the former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's claims in the story, Matt Vespa at our sister site Townhall observed that it's interesting they want to pull out these claims now right before the election. Yet Kelly went on working for Trump. That doesn't help the problems in this story.
Then former Sec. of Defense Mark Esper said he never heard things like what Kelly was saying.
Mark Esper -- former Defense Secretary and no fan of President Trump -- says he has never heard Trump say anything that John Kelly is claiming he said.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 23, 2024
Worst October surprise ever.pic.twitter.com/w4aX5CaNYd
No one is buying these October Surprises.
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