Attacks on Gold Star Families and Military Service Members
Tier 3Ongoing Pattern2015-07-18 to 2024-01-01
Factual Summary
Across a period spanning from the 2016 presidential campaign through Trump's second term, a documented pattern of attacks on Gold Star families, wounded veterans, prisoners of war, and senior military officers distinguished Trump's conduct from any prior president or major party nominee in recent American history. The targets included the family of a slain Muslim American soldier, a former prisoner of war who became a senator, a wounded veteran, and multiple former generals and senior military officials. The statements were made in public settings, in recorded remarks, and on social media platforms, and were reported by multiple named sources in cases where they occurred in private settings.
**Khizr and Ghazala Khan**
At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan, whose son Army Captain Humayun Khan was killed in Iraq in 2004, delivered a speech criticizing Trump and held up a pocket copy of the Constitution. Trump's response over the following days drew immediate condemnation from both parties. He suggested that Ghazala Khan, who stood silently beside her husband during the speech, had not been "allowed" to speak, an apparent suggestion connected to her Muslim faith. He criticized Khizr Khan's speech, characterized the family's grief as politically motivated, and stated that he had "sacrificed" by building businesses. The Khan family dispute prompted public rebukes from Republican senators including John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, and Lindsey Graham.
**"I Like People Who Weren't Captured"**
On July 18, 2015, during a campaign forum in Iowa, Trump said of Senator John McCain: "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." McCain had spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam after his aircraft was shot down in 1967, during which he was severely tortured and refused early release to avoid giving his captors a propaganda benefit. Trump received four draft deferments during the Vietnam War, the last classified as medical. Trump repeated versions of this criticism of McCain throughout his political career, including after McCain's death in 2018.
**"Losers" and "Suckers": Atlantic Reporting**
In September 2020, The Atlantic published a report by Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg stating that during a 2018 trip to France, Trump had declined to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, where Marines who died in the Battle of Belleau Wood are buried. According to multiple sources cited in the report, Trump referred to the cemetery as being "filled with losers" and separately described Marines who had died in the battle as "suckers" for getting killed. The White House denied the account. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who was on the trip, stated in a subsequent interview that the published account was consistent with Trump's general approach. Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly confirmed the core reporting in 2024, stating in an interview with The Atlantic that Trump did make disparaging remarks about fallen soldiers during the France trip and that Trump viewed military service through a transactional lens, believing that those who served and died had done so foolishly.
**Wounded Veteran at Mar-a-Lago**
Multiple accounts, including one published by The Atlantic citing Kelly as a source, described Trump's reaction to a wounded veteran amputee at a Mar-a-Lago event. According to the reporting, Trump made a disparaging remark, reportedly that "nobody wants to see that," referring to the veteran's visible injuries. Kelly, who lost his son Robert in combat in Afghanistan, stated that Trump's attitude toward wounded and fallen service members was a significant factor in Kelly's eventual public break with Trump.
**General Mark Milley**
Trump attacked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley after leaving office. In September 2023, following the publication of reporting on conversations Milley had during the final months of Trump's first term, Trump posted on Truth Social that Milley's conduct was "treason" and stated that in "times gone by" the penalty for such actions would have been death. Milley had reportedly contacted his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the United States would not launch a surprise attack during the transition period. The post was widely condemned by veterans' organizations and former military officials as an incitement against a former senior officer.
Primary Sources
1. Trump remarks at Family Leadership Summit, Ames, Iowa, July 18, 2015 (video recording, published by multiple outlets): https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-mccain-war-hero-comments/index.html
2. Trump statements regarding Khizr and Ghazala Khan, July 30 through August 1, 2016 (recorded interviews with ABC News, NBC's Meet the Press, and others): https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-questions-absence-khans-wife-political-speech/story?id=41038292
3. The Atlantic: "Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers' and 'Suckers,'" September 3, 2020: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/
4. The Atlantic: "John Kelly Breaks His Silence," October 2024: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-john-kelly/680327/
5. Trump Truth Social post regarding General Milley, September 24, 2023 (documented via archived screenshots and press reporting)
Corroborating Sources
1. NPR: "Trump attacks Gold Star family, prompting backlash from Republicans," August 1, 2016: https://www.npr.org/2016/07/31/488002965/
2. Washington Post: "Trump doubles down on attack of Gold Star family, calls Ghazala Khan 'very nice,'" August 1, 2016: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/08/01/
3. Fox News: Republican senators condemn Trump's Khan remarks, August 2016
4. Associated Press: "John Kelly confirms Trump's disparaging remarks about fallen soldiers," October 2024: https://apnews.com/article/trump-kelly-losers-suckers-military
5. CNN: "Veterans groups condemn Trump's Milley 'treason' remarks," September 2023: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/25/politics/trump-milley-treason/
6. Bob Woodward, "Rage" (2020), documenting Trump's relationship with military leadership, published by Simon and Schuster
Counterarguments and Context
Trump denied the Atlantic reporting on the "losers" and "suckers" remarks, calling it "fake news" and a "fabricated story." The White House in 2020 produced written statements from officials who were present denying the account, including Mick Mulvaney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. John Bolton, who was also present, declined to confirm the specific language while saying the broader characterization was not inconsistent with his experience. The subsequent on-the-record confirmation by John Kelly in 2024, along with Kelly's other documented criticisms of Trump's attitude toward military service, significantly corroborated the Atlantic's original reporting. On the McCain remarks, Trump acknowledged making them and defended them as honest, saying McCain had received more credit than deserved and that his record of not supporting veterans' legislation was the real issue. Trump also pointed to his administration's passage of the VA Mission Act in 2018, which expanded veterans' health care access, as evidence of his support for veterans.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the John McCain remarks and the Khan family exchanges are captured on video and in recorded interviews, constituting direct primary evidence. The Atlantic reporting on the cemetery visit and the Mar-a-Lago amputee incident rests on multiple named and unnamed sources, but the subsequent on-the-record confirmation by John Kelly elevates the evidentiary basis significantly. The Milley remarks are documented in direct posts from Trump's own social media account. The pattern across all episodes is consistent and supported by contemporaneous records.