Fact Check: Kamala Harris Cites Discredited Atlantic Article About Trump and Troops in VP Debate

CLAIM: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) claimed that President Donald Trump called soldiers “suckers” and “losers.”

VERDICT: FALSE. That claim by The Atlantic has never been corroborated and has been widely disputed.

Harris cited the notorious Atlantic article in the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night.

Breitbart News has fact-checked this claim before, when Democratic candidate Joe Biden (among others) has made it:

Biden was referring to a story in The Atlantic earlier this month that claimed — citing four anonymous sources — that Trump had specifically referred to the American dead in a World War I military cemetery in Europe as “suckers” and “losers.” (Biden went further, claiming Trump had been accused of referring to all veterans that way.)

No one else has corroborated the Atlantic‘s claim. Even Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, who claimed that she had “confirmed” other details in the story (from two similarly anonymous sources), could not confirm the Atlantic‘s “suckers” and “losers” claim.

Moreover, more a dozen current and former Trump administration officials have publicly and demonstratively denied the claims in the Atlantic article — including former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who has become a Trump critic.

Biden attempted to respond but was interrupted by moderator Susan Page. He did manage to say, citing the personal experience of his own son and son-in-law in the military, that President Trump cares deeply for the troops.

Update: President Trump liked Pence’s response enough to tweet it afterwards:

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.