Donald Trump reportedly declared “it doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f****** Mexican” after receiving the bill for a murdered soldier’s funeral which he had previously offered to pay.
The claims, which the Trump campaign has strongly denied, appeared in a recent article published by The Atlantic, which detailed the former president’s alleged disdain for members of the military.
Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old Army private, was bludgeoned to death in April 2020 by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood, in Texas and her burned remains were only discovered two months later.
Following the tragic incident, Trump invited Guillén’s family to the White House, where he described the young woman as a “spectacular person” and said he could help the family out “financially” and with funeral arrangements.
However, in a meeting in December 2020, Trump reportedly flew into a rage after being presented with a bill for $60,000. Attendees of the meeting told The Atlantic the former president said: “It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f****** Mexican!”
He also reportedly told his chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, not to pay the bill and later accused the family of “trying to rip me off,” per the outlet. A family lawyer told The Atlantic that no money from Trump was received.
In statements shared with The Independent, members of the Trump campaign and former staff members vehemently denied that such exchanges took place. “President Donald Trump never said that. This is an outrageous lie from The Atlantic two weeks before the election,” said Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfeiffer.
Kash Patel, former Pentagon Chief of Staff, who was reportedly in the room at the time of the alleged comments said: “Of course, President Trump didn’t say that. President Trump ensured that this victim received full military honors.”
Patel added: “As someone who was present in the room with President Trump during that meeting… he strongly urged that Spc. Vanessa Guillen’s grieving family should not have to bear the cost of any funeral arrangements, even offering to personally pay himself in order to honor her life and sacrifice.
“In addition, President Trump was able to have the Department of Defense designate her death as occurring ‘in the line of duty,’ which gave her full military honors and provided her family access to benefits, services, and complete financial assistance.”
Meadows also refuted the claims, saying that they were “absolutely false.” “He was nothing, but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the US government did right by Vanessa Guillen and her family,” he said.
In addition, following the publication of the claims in The Atlantic, Mayra Guillen, sister of Vanessa Guillen, blasted the outlet for “exploiting my sister’s death for politics,” describing the piece as “hurtful and disrespectful.”
“President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today,” she wrote on X.
