U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco Jamie McCourt told Breitbart News exclusively on Monday that the Atlantic story about President Donald Trump allegedly bashing troops is untrue.
Ambassador McCourt was there the day President Trump’s team called off the trip to the cemetery at Belleau Wood because of inclement weather. She is the latest U.S. official who was actually present at the event to publicly deny the Atlantic’s account of events, which is based entirely on anonymous sources.
Needless to say, I never spoke to the Atlantic, and I can’t imagine who would,” McCourt told Breitbart News. “In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either. Let me add, he was devastated to not be able to go to the cemetery at Belleau Wood. In fact, the next day, he attended and spoke at the ceremony in Suresnes in the pouring rain.”
McCourt’s denial regarding the Atlantic comes after former White House deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes, a top confidante of former chief of staff John Kelly, denied the story earlier on Monday in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News.
In addition to Fuentes, former National Security adviser John Bolton has denied the account—as has every other person who could have witnessed the president saying this: officials who were there, from former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to senior adviser Stephen Miller to advisers such as Jordan Karem and Derek Lyons. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was traveling with the president there, has also denied the report. In addition, first lady Melania Trump has denied the report and called the Atlantic article fake news.
While Kelly himself has not said anything publicly at this stage, Fuentes’s denial essentially serves as a denial from Kelly. That’s because Fuentes, in his denial, made clear that Kelly would not have stood idly by if Trump had, in fact, made the remarks that were alleged in the Atlantic story.
“Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?” Fuentes asked Breitbart News.
Now, with McCourt’s denial, along with those of everyone else who was in the president’s presence in France during this supposed episode, White House officials familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that there is nobody left who could have witnessed the president say something like this privately about fallen troops: