Trump’s alleged insults to US war dead
Uproar grows over reports
Biden declares Trump ‘unfit’ for presidency as allies defend president
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has come under fire over reports that he mocked the country's war dead as "suckers" and "losers", with Joe Biden, his main opponent in the upcoming presidential election, declaring him "unfit" for the commander-in-chief role.
Biden's comments on Friday came as Trump again sought to dismiss as "false" the alleged comments, first reported on by The Atlantic magazine and then by The Associated Press news agency.
Voice cracking, Biden told reporters in Delaware that "you know in your gut" Trump's comments, if true, are "deplorable".
Trump, in the Oval Office, said no apology was necessary, because it was a "fake story".
The allegations, sourced anonymously, describe multiple offensive comments by the president towards killed and captured US service members during a trip to France in November 2018.
In the morning of a scheduled visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, Trump reportedly told senior staff, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." The White House later said the visit was cancelled because foggy weather made the helicopter trip from Paris too risky and a 90-minute drive was deemed infeasible.
The Atlantic also said Trump, in a separate conversation on the same trip, referred to more than 1,800 US soldiers who died during the consequential 1918 battle at Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed.
Political leaders and veterans have condemned Trump for the comments which have been confirmed by multiple news outlets including Fox News, which has been the president's go-to television news network.
Fox said two former Trump administration officials had confirmed The Atlantic's reporting.
Trump's supporters, meanwhile, took to television networks and social media to defend the president, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling the programme, Fox and Friends, on Friday that he was with the president andhe "never heard him use the words."
First Lady Melania Trump also defended her husband, issuing a rare public statement, calling Trump's alleged mockery of US war dead "not true" and blasting The Atlantic's reliance on anonymous sources.