The son of Trump's chief of staff was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

Susan Walsh / AP

A day after he made the false accusation that former President Barack Obama "didn't make calls" to the families of US personnel killed in combat, President Donald Trump brought up the dead son of his own chief of staff. "I mean, you could ask General [John] Kelly did he get a call from Obama," Trump told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday at a conservative radio event at the White House. "You could ask other people. I don’t know what Obama’s policy was."

Here's audio of Trump's full answer on calling families of dead soldiers, in which he brought up Obama & Gen. Kelly… https://t.co/E6UzBQtznq

First Lieutenant Robert Michael Kelly was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. The 29-year-old was leading a platoon in Helmand province when he stepped on a concealed explosive device. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Gen. Kelly. However, an unnamed White House official told NBC News and Fox News that Obama did not call Kelly. (Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the news on background to at least one outlet, a source told BuzzFeed News). A representative for Obama had no comment on behalf of the former president. However, a former Obama White House official did tell BuzzFeed News that Trump's claim that Obama never called Gold Star families was "unequivocally wrong." "President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to Section 60 at Arlington, visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country," the official said. Kelly attended a 2011 breakfast for Gold Star families at the Obama White House some six months after his son died. A source familiar with the private breakfast told BuzzFeed News that Kelly and his wife sat at former first lady Michelle Obama's table.

Evan Vucci / AP

President Trump first made his comment on Monday after being asked why he had not yet telephoned the families of four service members killed in Niger almost two weeks ago. (He later called the families to "offer condolences on behalf of a grateful nation," Sanders said Tuesday evening). "The traditional way 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 told reporters in the White House Rose Garden on Monday. Angry Obama officials used social media to denounce Trump's comments as false.



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.

This is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards. Also: Obama never attacked a Gold Star family. https://t.co/JgzTUIzWIa