Washington (CNN) The Trump administration did expedite some condolence letters to families of fallen soldiers after President Donald Trump said he had contacted every family of a fallen soldier, a White House official said Monday, blaming the lag on bureaucratic issues that delayed letters being sent out to families.

The admission came after a series of news reports said the White House was scrambling to back up Trump's claim that he had contacted "every family of someone who's died" during his presidency. Roll Call first reported last week that the White House had rushed to find a list of contact information for each fallen soldier's family. The Atlantic reported that a series of families received expedited letters last week, months after their family member had been killed.

The White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject, said the West Wing did attempt to expedite condolence letters to families of fallen soldiers after the President's remarks in the Rose Garden last week after a discovery was made that there were "bureaucratic" reasons for why some of the letters had not gone out.

In most of the cases, the official said, letters and contacts were delayed because the service member killed in action had been involved in a "multiple casualties" incident.

"We looked under the hood" and found this bureaucratic red tape, the official added. In response to this discovery, the official concluded, the White House directed that the condolence letters be sent out immediately.

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