Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg's story uses unidentified sources to claim President Trump did not attend a 2018 memorial service for WWI veterans at an American Cemetery near Paris because, he claims, Trump described veterans as losers and suckers "on that same trip."
He rightly chastises Trump for calling John McCain a "loser" but that was in 2015 - not "on that same trip" in France in 2018. None of the timing hangs together. Trump's alleged remark about the foolish Vietnam War being for suckers might have been made in the 1970s, for all we know, but surely not "on that same trip" in connection with a ceremony for WWI veterans.
Many people were present during that 2018 trip, yet none has confirmed any part of Goldberg's story and several have denied it, including the Ambassador to France.
Goldberg writes, "When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true."
John Bolton's book, by contrast, says both claims were true.
On the Atlantic Trump story, best coverage was @BretBaier @SpecialReport on Friday. Here is an excerpt, plus the relevant portion of John Bolton's book. Given that Atlantic's sources will not identify themselves, this is the state of our knowledge. pic.twitter.com/OWhWNEXroR
— Byron York (@ByronYork) September 6, 2020
On Twitter, Washington Examiner columnist Byron York compared Goldberg's opening [the first page below] with two following pages about the event from John Bolton's book.
| Page 1 | Page 2 |
|---|---|
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Clearly, either Goldberg or Bolton is not telling the truth.
And one of them has no reason to lie.