Fallen soldiers’ families say they haven’t heard from Trump: report

Two families of U.S. soldiers who lost their lives overseas said they have not heard from President Trump in the wake of his recent claims that his predecessors did not reach out to families of slain soldiers, according to The Associated Press.

The AP reported that Sheila Murphy, whose son died in Syria in May, has yet to hear from the president, despite writing him “some days I don’t want to live.” 

However, Eddie and Aldene Lee told the outlet they heard from Trump 10 days after their son was killed in Iraq, saying it was beautiful to hear Trump describe their son as “lovely.”

{mosads}

The report comes as Trump finds himself embroiled in a controversy over calling the families of fallen U.S. soldiers. 

The president first stepped into the issue on Monday, when he claimed during a White House press conference that his predecessors did not call families of fallen soldiers before attempting to walk back the claim. 

Trump then invoked his chief of staff, John Kelly, in a radio interview Tuesday, in which he said he did not know if Kelly received a call from former President Obama when his son was killed in Afghanistan.

In that same interview Tuesday, the president said, “I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died.”

But the AP reports that they found relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trump’s presidency that say they did not receive a letter or a phone call and relatives of a third who did not get a call.

The controversy continued Tuesday night when Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said she overheard Trump tell the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger nearly two weeks ago, that Johnson “knew what he signed up for … but when it happens it hurts anyway.”

Trump responded to that claim, saying Wilson had no proof and that she had fabricated the conversation. 

“I’m not trying to prove anything with the president. So the president evidently is lying,” Wilson told CNN on Tuesday. “Because what I said is true. I have no reason to lie on the president of the United States with a dead soldier in my community. I have no time. I have no motive.”