President Trump spoke about the consequences of his claim that President Obama did not call the families of military personnel killed in action. John Young reports on the president's response to military casualties and the latest controversies to plague his presidency.
JUDY WOODRUFF:
Now: new questions surrounding the deaths of four Green Berets in the West African country of Niger and the president's role as consoler-in-chief.
John Young has a story.
JOHN YANG:
Sending young Americans to fend for themselves may be the most serious decision a president makes. Comforting the families of the victims was the latest controversy to engulf President Trump.
To bolster his claim that he is doing more than his predecessors, Mr. Trump today cited the dead son of his chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
To the best of my knowledge, I think I have called every family of the person who died. As for other representatives, I don't know. I mean, you could ask General Kelly if Obama called him?
JOHN YANG:
Kelly's 29-year-old son, Robert, a Marine lieutenant, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan, an episode Kelly rarely talks about publicly. Kelly and his wife attended the 2011 Memorial Day breakfast hosted by President Obama for Gold Star families.
President Trump caused a furore when asked about his public silence regarding the four Green Berets killed two weeks ago in Niger.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't call. Many of them didn't call. I like to call when it's appropriate, when I think I can do it.
JOHN YANG:
Reporters pressed him to stand by the statement.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:
I don't know. That's what they told me. All I can do, all I can do is ask my generals.
JOHN YANG:
The response from former Obama officials was swift and decisive.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted the photo and insisted: “Stop lying. I went to Dover Air Force Base with 44 people and saw him comfort families,” a reference to one of Obama's overnight trips to pay tribute to service members killed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush frequently visited wounded warriors at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, a practice Mr. Trump has continued. In February, the president and his daughter Ivanka traveled to Dover to return the remains of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, his administration's first casualty.
According to the Pentagon, 16 Americans have died in combat this year. Another 17 sailors died in accidents. In the first year of Obama's presidency, 344 people died in combat.
During last year's election campaign, Trump publicly feuded with the Khans, the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, after they criticized him at the Democratic National Convention.
The Khans said today: “President Trump's selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency.”
The current controversy comes as questions are raised about how and why four soldiers died in Niger.
Senator Jack Reed is the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
SEP. JACK REED, MD:
I think the administration needs to be much clearer about our role in Niger and our role in other parts of Africa and other parts of the globe.
JOHN YANG:
The Pentagon is investigating the deaths. Questions reportedly included whether commanders had adequately assessed the risk and whether there was ready access to medical support?
President Trump called the families of four fallen Green Berets today.
For PBS NewsHour, I'm John Young.
