JOHN KELLY/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday [10-17-17] invoked the death of the son of his chief of staff, John Kelly, as he defended his claim from a day before that Barack Obama and other past presidents didn’t always call the families of slain service members…
‘Now, as far as other representatives, I don’t know,’ he continued. ‘I mean, you could ask General Kelly did he get a call from Obama. You could ask other people. I don’t know what Obama’s policy was. I write letters, and I also call.’
Kelly’s son, 2nd Lt. Robert Kelly, died in November 2010 in Afghanistan when he stepped on a land mine.
Obama hosted a breakfast in May 2011 for Gold Star families. Kelly and his wife attended and sat at the table of First Lady Michelle Obama, a source familiar with the event said.
‘President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to [Arlington Cemetery], visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country,’ a former White House official said.
Trump has faced an onslaught of criticism — most notably from former Obama aides — since making the accusation against Obama on Monday afternoon in a Rose Garden news conference when asked about his silence regarding the death of four Green Berets related to an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger.”
-Nolan D. McCaskill, “Trump invokes death of John Kelly’s son in furor over calls to fallen soldiers,” Politico, Oct. 17, 2017 12:36pm