Earlier this week, The Atlantic published a piece on former President Donald Trump, claiming he was angry about the funeral costs of a murdered soldier and made disrespectful comments against her.
According to the magazine, Trump asked if the family of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillén billed the White House for funeral costs. Trump exclaimed, It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a [expletive] Mexican!”
The magazine claimed that Trump told his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, that the family tried to “rip [him] off.”
Guillen’s sister, Mayra Guillen, condemned The Atlantic’s article.
“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,” Mayra Guillen wrote on X.
Meadows issued a statement on X over The Atlantic’s claims, calling them “absolutely false.”
“He was nothing but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Vanessa Guillen and her family,” Meadows wrote.
After Vanessa Guillén was murdered at Fort Hood in 2020, Trump told her family, “If I can help you out with the funeral, I’ll help you out. I’ll help you out. Financially, I’ll help you.”
The family’s attorney, Natalie Khawam, said Jeffrey Goldberg, the author of the article and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, “used and exploited” the Guillens.
“I would like to also point out that the timing of this ‘story’ is quite suspicious, as this supposed conversation that Trump had would have occurred over 4 years ago!” Khawam wrote on social media. “Why a story about it now?!”
“As everyone knows, not only did Trump support our military, he also invited my clients to the Oval Office and supported the I Am Vanessa Guillen bill too,” the attorney said.
