President Donald Trump speaks with Gloria Guillen, the mother of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier found dead after disappearing from Fort Hood, Texas, in the Oval Office on July 30, 2020. (Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
The Atlantic published a hit piece Tuesday night on former President Donald Trump, alleging that he disparaged a deceased veteran and her family, and refused to pay for her funeral. The victim’s sister and numerous Trump officials, however, have come forward to dispute the story as false.
Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old Army private and daughter of Mexican immigrants, was brutally killed by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood in Texas in April 2020. Her remains were burned and weren’t found until two months later. In the aftermath of the gruesome murder, Trump met with the Guillén family and said he would provide financial assistance for her funeral. The Army also launched an investigation into Fort Hood, which resulted in the firing or suspension of 14 commanders and other leaders and the termination of the base’s commanding general.
In the Atlantic story Tuesday, editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported on a national security meeting in December 2020 during which Trump allegedly expressed outrage that Guillén’s funeral “cost $60,000” and that “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” Here is how Goldberg, citing anonymous sources, portrayed the meeting:
In an Oval Office meeting on December 4, 2020, officials gathered to discuss a separate national-security issue. Toward the end of the discussion, Trump asked for an update on the McCarthy investigation. Christopher Miller, the acting secretary of defense (Trump had fired his predecessor, Mark Esper, three weeks earlier, writing in a tweet, “Mark Esper has been terminated”), was in attendance, along with Miller’s chief of staff, Kash Patel. At a certain point, according to two people present at the meeting, Trump asked, “Did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?”
According to attendees, and to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.
Trump became angry. “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!” He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: “Don’t pay it!” Later that day, he was still agitated. “Can you believe it?” he said, according to a witness. “Fucking people, trying to rip me off.”
But several former Trump officials present at the meeting have all disputed The Atlantic’s reporting. In their story, The Atlantic quoted a statement from former Trump National Security official, Kash Patel:
“As someone who was present in the room with President Trump, he strongly urged that Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s grieving family should not have to bear the cost of any funeral arrangements, even offering to personally pay himself in order to honor her life and sacrifice. In addition, President Trump was able to have the Department of Defense designate her death as occurring ‘in the line of duty,’ which gave her full military honors and provided her family access to benefits, services, and complete financial assistance.”
Ben Williamson, a spokesman for Mark Meadows, said Tuesday night that he sent The Atlantic a full comment regarding the “fucking Mexican” remark. The outlet, however, paraphrased it as “denied having heard Trump make the statement.”
“President Donald Trump absolutely did not say that. He was nothing, but kind, gracious, and wanting to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Gloria Guillen and her daughter Vanessa Guillen,” Williamson said in a screenshot of the apparent text he sent prior to the story’s publication.
On the left: I sent Atlantic a comment saying President Trump “absolutely did not say that,” referring to the alleged comments about Ms. Guillen they printed.
On the right: Atlantic translated that comment to “didn’t hear Trump say it.”
Treat this dishonest piece accordingly. pic.twitter.com/pM1o1c9fEm
— Ben Williamson (@_WilliamsonBen) October 22, 2024
I was in the discussions featured in the Atlantic’s latest hit piece against President Trump. Let me say this.
Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false.
He was nothing but kind, gracious, and…
— Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) October 22, 2024
I was at President Trump’s meeting with the Guillén family because I assisted with translation that day.
President Trump was genuinely concerned about Vanessa Guillén and appalled by the tragedy the Guillén Family were enduring.@mguilen_ was poised and confident in…
— Theo Wold (@RealTheoWold) October 22, 2024
Wow.
I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members. President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today. https://t.co/o8cDrKOKBV— Mayra Guillen (@mguilen_) October 22, 2024
I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- it’s not only hurtful, but it’s disrespectful to the important changes she made for so many honorable service members.
— Mayra Guillen (@mguilen_) October 22, 2024
(Read more: Daily Caller, 10/22/2024) (Archive)
Timeline editor’s note: The Atlantic is owned by a company called Emerson Collective. The president and founder of Emerson is Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs. After the publication of a piece titled “The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic” dated December 9, 2021, a photo emerged showing Ghislaine Maxwell and Laurene Powell Jobs in bathing suits laughing together on a couch. Perhaps The Atlantic’s motivation to lie and hurt Trump’s chance of becoming president, is his promise to release the Epstein list.
