Falsely claims Obama and other presidents 'didn't make calls' to families of fallen soldiers

Asked at a Rose Garden news conference about his 12-day public silence on the four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger, Trump claimed that President Obama and other past presidents mostly did not call the families of fallen service members. Former Obama administration officials disputed the claim, noting Obama's documented calls, letters, and visits with Gold Star families, and fact-checkers found the assertion misleading. Pressed by reporters later in the same news conference, Trump partially retreated, saying Obama 'probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didn't. I don't know. That's what I was told.' The remark opened the Gold Star controversy that produced the Frederica Wilson and Myeshia Johnson disputes over the following week.

"The traditional way, you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls, a lot of them didn't make calls." Quote verified against source