Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly recently confirmed several remarks made by Donald Trump during his time in the White House, including one in which Trump deemed dead U.S. service members “losers” and “suckers.”
Kelly verified many of the details published in a 2020 article by The Atlantic in a statement to CNN, including some made by the former president about deceased military members. Kelly was believed at the time to be the source of the quotes.
“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'” Kelly said of Trump.
“A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”
Kelly continued to criticize his former boss in his lengthy statement.
“A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”
“There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.”
Kelly recently said Trump is “the most flawed person I’ve ever known.”
