President Joe Biden is set to visit the American cemetery outside Paris honoring World War I dead on Sunday, setting up a contrast with former President Donald Trump, who skipped a visit to the cemetery during a 2018 trip.
Biden will cap off a five-day trip to France paying his respects with a wreath-laying at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial before returning to Washington. He has spent much of the trip honoring American veterans – but the subtext of Sunday’s expedition is also aimed at Trump, who scrapped his 2018 journey to the memorial and later faced criticism for denigrating US veterans.
Trump, who was in Paris to commemorate the centennial of the end of World War I with other world leaders, blamed weather and safety issues for eschewing the cemetery visit. The president’s Marine One helicopter cannot fly in low cloud cover, a decision that is made by military and security officials. But there did not appear to be a backup plan, and Trump did not make any statements of regret over not being able to visit the cemetery.
CNN later reported that Trump referred to the fallen US service members at Aisne-Marne in crude and derogatory terms. A former senior Trump administration official, who declined to be named, confirmed reporting from The Atlantic magazine, which cited sources who said Trump rejected the idea of a cemetery visit and proceeded to refer to the fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers.”
Trump has forcefully denied the report in The Atlantic. His former chief of staff, John Kelly, later confirmed to CNN several anecdotes in The Atlantic’s story, including the cemetery visit and comments about US soldiers killed in battle.
Biden has repeatedly seized on those comments on the campaign trail. As he memorialized war heroes in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day last week, his reelection campaign released a new ad featuring veterans knocking Trump as unfit to serve.
“A good commander in chief is someone who gives a sh*t,” Curtis Register, a Marine Corps veteran, says in the ad.
Trump campaign co-manager Chris LaCivita cast the repeatedly corroborated reports on the former president’s comments as a “fake and thoroughly debunked” story, calling Biden’s team “desperate.”
The Biden campaign is aiming to distinguish the president from his predecessor – and presumptive GOP presidential nominee – on defense. Taking advantage of the backdrop of decorum during his visit to France, Biden pledged unwavering support for European allies, in contrast with Trump’s noncommittal stance.
Trump has cast doubt on future support for NATO, telling supporters this year that if reelected, he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense.
Biden also took his argument Friday to Pointe-du-Hoc, a site separating the Omaha and Utah beaches where American Army Rangers scaled steep cliffs to secure positions against the Germans on D-Day. The president said those men would want their modern-day fellow citizens to do their part to protect against autocrats.
“They’re asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up to aggression abroad and at home to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” he said at the same poignant site as a 1984 speech with similar themes by President Ronald Reagan.
“We’ve learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent,” Reagan said in his address honoring the 40th anniversary of D-Day.
Trump also traveled to Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day – but attacked Democrats in an interview after his speech.
CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.
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