Former President Donald Trump offered to cover funeral costs for a soldier murdered at Ft. Hood — then furiously backed out when the family sent a $60,000 bill to the White House, according to a bombshell report published Tuesday in The Atlantic. (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)
Former President Donald Trump offered to cover funeral costs for a soldier who died at Ft. Hood — then furiously backed out when the family sent a $60,000 bill to the White House, according to a bombshell report published Tuesday in The Atlantic.
Among claims made in the report was that Trump volunteered to pay for the funeral of Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old Army private who was beaten to death and burned by a fellow soldier.
“If I can help you out with the funeral, I’ll help — I’ll help you with that,” Trump reportedly told the victim's family. “I’ll help you out. Financially, I’ll help you.”
But his tone changed when the bill was sent, according to the report.
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"It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f---ing Mexican!” the then-president said, according to the report.
He reportedly told chief of staff Mark Meadows: “Don’t pay it!"
Trump remained agitated about the funeral the following day, according to the report.
"F---ing people trying to rip me off," Trump ranted.
The story came from staffers who were taking "contemporaneous notes of the meeting," The Atlantic reported.
But Guillén's family vehemently denied it was accurate.
Her sister, Mayra Guillén hit out at the report on social media after it was published.
“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,” she wrote.
She added, “President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today.”
Family attorney Natalie Khawam, also denied the report's accuracy.
The report followed a September 2020 story in The Atlantic which claimed Trump told families "he has received the bodies of slain service members 'many, many' times," when in reality, the report claimed, he had traveled to Dover Air Force Base, "the transfer point for the remains of fallen service members, only four times since becoming president."