Atlantic Report on Trump Followed by Plenty of Pushback

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, published a lengthy report Tuesday focused on what he terms former President Trump's "preoccupation with dictators." Its headline highlights a quote attributed to Trump toward the end of his presidency: "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." But that's not the alleged Trump quote the article gives the most play: It's one from December 2020. In July of that year, Trump had promised to pay funeral costs for Vanessa Guillén, a daughter of Mexican immigrants murdered by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood. But when Trump learned of the bill months later, Goldberg claims he raged, "It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f---ing Mexican!" and accused the family of "trying to rip me off." Trump also reportedly ordered his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, not to pay the sum.

Trump spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer told Goldberg that Trump "never said that. This is an outrageous lie from the Atlantic two weeks before the election." Pfeiffer also provided a statement in which Meadows' rep denied Trump told him not to pay. Goldberg, meanwhile, cited the Guillén family attorney as saying they didn't receive any money from Trump. On Tuesday, however, the attorney, Natalie Khawam, said Goldberg "outright LIED in HIS sensational story" and "exploited my clients, and Vanessa Guillen's murder… for cheap political gain," per Fox News. Guillén's sister, Mayra Guillén, said, "President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa." And Meadows said, "Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillén or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false."

Goldberg reports the "contempt, rage, parsimony, racism" Trump displayed in the interaction didn't surprise his inner circle since "Trump has frequently voiced his disdain for those who serve in the military and for their devotion to duty, honor, and sacrifice." Goldberg then quotes Trump as once saying, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders." That quote is supported by Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, who told Goldberg that Trump raised the subject of German generals, prompting Kelly to ask for clarification. "Surely you can't mean Hitler's generals?" Kelly said he asked Trump. "And he said, 'Yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals.'" Pfeiffer claims "President Trump never said this." (More Donald Trump stories.)