This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his claim that Barack Obama did not routinely call the families of servicemen and women killed in battle. He also warned John McCain, a decorated war hero with whom he has clashed before, that he might “fight back” after the senator said America’s “leadership and ideals are absent”.

Half-baked, spurious nationalism is unpatriotic | John McCain Read more

Regarding Obama’s contacts with the families of fallen troops, Trump directed inquiries to his chief of staff. John Kelly’s son, like the retired general a US marine, died in Afghanistan in 2010.

“I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died,” Trump told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News Radio. “As far as other representatives, I don’t know. You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?”

A White House official told the Associated Press Obama did not call Kelly. The official did not immediately respond to questions about whether the former president reached out in another fashion.

Timeline How the controversy over Trump's condolence call unfolded Show Hide

Soldiers killed in Niger Four US army special forces troops and five soldiers from Niger die in an ambush during a joint patrol in the south-west of the country. The row begins Asked why he has not spoken about the incident, Trump discusses his calls to bereaved families, saying: “If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls – a lot of them didn’t make calls.” Trump drags White House chief of staff John Kelly into the developing row, saying: “You could ask Gen Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?”, a reference to the death of Kelly's son in Afghanistan. Trump phones the widow of Sgt La David Johnson and reportedly says Johnson “knew what he was signing up for”, according to Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswomen who heard the call. Wilson criticizes Trump's reported remark as "so insensitive". In response, Trump claims Wilson's account is “totally fabricated” but Johnson's mother supports Wilson's version of events. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Kelly is “disgusted and frustrated” by the politicization of his son's death – even though it was Trump who first mentioned him. Enter John Kelly Kelly delivers a rebuke to critics of Trump in an emotional press conference but fails to acknowledge that the controversy began after Trump attacked Obama. Sanders says it would be “highly inappropriate” to question Kelly, a four-star general, a comment that causes outcry in itself. On the day of Sgt Johnson’s funeral, Trump refuses to let the matter rest, referring to Wilson as "Wacky Congresswoman Wilson" in a tweet. Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt Johnson, says Trump's condolence call "made me cry even worse". Trump disputes her account immediately after the interview aires.

The AP also reported, however, that White House visitor records showed Kelly attended a breakfast Obama hosted for Gold Star families six months after his son died. A person familiar with the breakfast – speaking on condition of anonymity because the event was private – said the Kelly family sat at Michelle Obama’s table.

Obama aides said it was difficult to determine whether he had also called Kelly, and when. But the former Obama spokesman Ned Price reacted angrily to Trump’s comments.

“Kelly, a man of honor & decency, should stop this inane cruelty,” Price tweeted. “He saw up-close just how – & how much – Obama cared for the fallen’s families.”

Trump first made the claim in a press conference in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, when he was asked why he had not yet commented publicly about four special forces soldiers who were killed in Niger last week.

Play Video 1:20 Trump backtracks from false claim that Obama didn't call families of fallen soldiers – video

“If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said. “A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate.”

Pressed, he softened his claim a little. “President Obama, I think, probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn’t,” he said. “I don’t know. That’s what I was told. Other presidents did not call, they’d write letters. And some presidents didn’t do anything.”

Former Obama aides were quick to criticise Trump. Eric Holder, one of Obama’s attorneys general, said on Twitter: “Stop the damn lying – you’re the president.” Alyssa Mastromonaco, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff, responded strongly. She wrote: “That’s a fucking lie. To say President Obama (or past presidents) didn’t call the family members of soldiers KIA – he’s a deranged animal.”

The former White House press secretary Josh Earnest, now an MSNBC commentator, told the network past Republican and Democratic presidents had recognized their duty to honor soldiers’ sacrifices and not highlight their own actions.

“Unfortunately, President Trump seems incapable of actually doing that,” he said.

Reaction was also strong among some family members of deceased servicemen:

Delilia O'Malley (@DeliliaOMalley) .@realDonaldTrump When my brother was killed, Pres Bush listened while I screamed at him & then held me as I sobbed, you fat fucking liar. https://t.co/SEIw74OeZG

The San Antonio Spurs basketball coach, Gregg Popovich, who is an air force veteran, also criticised Trump, telling reporters: “His comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents Obama and Bush never contacted their families are so beyond the pale, I almost don’t have the words.”

Popovich added: “This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others.”

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Trump “wasn’t criticizing predecessors but stating a fact”, and argued that presidents did not always call families of those killed in battle.

“Sometimes they call, sometimes they send a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet family members in person,” she said, adding that anyone claiming a former president had called every family was “mistaken”.

A spokesperson for George W Bush said he had called, written and visited the families of soldiers killed in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gregg Popovich calls Donald Trump a 'soulless coward' after Obama comments Read more

Trump seemed to issue a threat to McCain in a separate radio interview on Tuesday, with Chris Plante of WMAL DC.

McCain, an Arizona senator, former Republican presidential candidate and decorated Vietnam veteran, was recently diagnosed with brain cancer but returned to Washington to vote against healthcare bills backed by the Trump White House.

Play Video 1:14 John McCain criticises 'spurious nationalism' in Liberty Medal speech – video

He did not mention the president by name in a speech made as he received the Liberty Medal on Monday. But he did condemn “half-baked, spurious nationalism” and warned that the US “will not thrive in a world where our leadership and ideals are absent”.

After agreeing that McCain was “taking shots”, Trump told Plante: “People have to be careful because I fight back. I’m being very nice, very nice, but at some point I will fight back and it won’t be pretty.”

Trump first attacked McCain during the Republican presidential primary in 2015, questioning whether he was really a war hero given that he was captured – and tortured – by the North Vietnamese.

Trump received five deferments from service during the Vietnam war, four for academic reasons and one on health grounds, for bone spurs in his heels.

McCain appeared untroubled by Trump’s threat. “It’s fine with me,” he said on Tuesday. “I’ve faced some fairly significant adversaries in the past.”