Trump offered grieving father of soldier $25,000 in call but only followed through after backlash: report

President Donald Trump offered a grieving military father $25,000 during a condolence call, but never followed through on the offer, said The Washington Post on Wednesday.

The Post's Dan Lamothe, Lindsey Bever and Eli Rosenberg wrote that Trump spoke to Chris Baldridge -- the father of Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge, who died in a June 10 attack by Afghan police -- who said he spoke to Trump for about 15 minutes.

“I said, ‘Me and my wife would rather our son died in trench warfare,’" Baldridge told the Post. “I feel like he got murdered over there.”

During the call, the grieving dad told Trump about his frustration with the military's survivor benefits program. The president's reply shocked him.

“He said, ‘I’m going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,’ and I was just floored,” Baldridge said. “I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, ‘No other president has ever done something like this,’ but he said, ‘I’m going to do it.’"

He never did it.

When contacted by the Post, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said that the check is in the mail and called the media "disgusting" for inquiring about it.

“The check has been sent. It’s disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media’s biased agenda," Walters said.

UPDATE:

After the news was made public, the White House announced that the personal check has been sent to the family. The administration then blamed the media for making it into a bigger story.