The liberal-leaning publication The Atlantic is facing a fresh wave of scrutiny over a recent attack piece focusing on former president Donald Trump.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, penned a lengthy report published Tuesday about Trump’s interaction with the family of 20-year-old Vanessa Guillén, the daughter of Mexican immigrants who was brutally murdered in April 2020 by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood.
Goldberg‘s article about Trump and his promise to pay for Guillén’s funeral costs, specifically references a moment when allegedly Trump became angry when he was informed the funeral was $60,000, the article said.
“‘It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f—— Mexican!” Goldberg reported Trump saying. “He later turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: ‘Don’t pay it!’”
According to the report, Natalie Khawam, Guillén’s family attorney, told Goldberg the family did not receive money from Trump and that the costs were ultimately covered in part by the Army and donations.
Khawam accused Goldberg of lying.
“After having dealt with hundreds of reporters in my legal career, this is unfortunately the first time I have to go on record and call out Jeffrey Goldberg@the Atlantic: not only did he misrepresent our conversation but he outright LIED in HIS sensational story,” Khawam wrote on X. “More importantly, he used and exploited my clients, and Vanessa Guillén’s murder… for cheap political gain. I would like to also point out that the timing of this ‘story’ is quite suspicious, as this supposed conversation that Trump had would have occurred over 4 years ago! Why a story about it now?!”
“As everyone knows, not only did Trump support our military, he also invited my clients to the Oval Office and supported the I Am Vanessa Guillen bill too. I’m grateful we were successful in getting bipartisan support of the I Am Vanessa Guillen Act, and because of everyone’s hard work and efforts our service members now have more protections and rights while serving our country,” she added.
Goldberg further alleged that during an Oval Office meeting in December 2020, Trump was outraged when he received the funeral bill for Guillén.
“At a certain point, according to two people present at the meeting, Trump asked, ‘Did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?’” Goldberg wrote. “According to attendees, and to contemporaneous notes of the meeting taken by a participant, an aide answered: Yes, we received a bill; the funeral cost $60,000.”
Goldberg continued, “Trump became angry. ‘It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f—ing Mexican!’ He turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: ‘Don’t pay it!’ Later that day, he was still agitated. ‘Can you believe it?’ he said, according to a witness. ‘F—ing people, trying to rip me off.’”
Other officials who were present for the meeting between Trump and the Guilléns have also refuted Golberg’s reporting. The report included on-the-record denials from Meadows and Kash Patel, the former chief of staff of then-Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller.
“I was in the discussions featured in the Atlantic’s latest hit piece against President Trump. Let me say this. Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false,” Meadows wrote on X. “He was nothing but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Vanessa Guillen and her family.”
Theo Wold, Trump’s former deputy assistant who assisted in translating for Trump’s meeting with the Guillén family, also spoke out against the report.
“President Trump was genuinely concerned about Vanessa Guillén and appalled by the tragedy the Guillén Family were enduring,” Wold wrote. “[Mayra Guiellén] was poised and confident in advocating for her sister then and she’s right again today: The Atlantic hit piece is a lie. For example, President Trump had zero interest in the cameras. He met with the Guillén family privately for twenty minutes and offered the press gaggle solely if it would assist them in honoring Army Specialist Guillén and raising awareness about her case. He even told them that day that the press are vipers. Boy was President Trump right.”
Vanessa’s sister Maya also slammed the report in a post on X.
“Wow. I don’t appreciate how you are exploiting my sister’s death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members,” Guillén posted on X. “President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today.”
Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump’s press secretary and was in a meeting with the Guillén family, feels anything written by Goldberg should be taken with a grain of salt.
“My point is, this is based on four anonymous sources, two weeks before an election, disputed by people on the record, and yet it led a CBS News broadcast,” she continued. “What a shame.”
“taken with a grain of salt” – nope more like a whole barrel full.
As noted in the article, the timing of this ‘report’ is at best ‘suspicious’. The problem is that DJT has been crass on occasion and there will be folks out there who will ‘believe’ the report.