Trump: Ask Gen. Kelly if he got a call from Obama

WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump, facing blowback for his delay in calling the families of four soldiers who died in combat, on Tuesday invoked the fallen son of his chief of staff, retired Gen. John F. Kelly.

“As far as other presidents, I don’t know, you could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? I don’t know what Obama’s policy was,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Radio on Tuesday.

Trump had faced criticism for failing to call the families of four soldiers killed in Niger on Oct. 4. It intensified Monday after Trump falsely claimed that Obama and other predecessors failed to call families.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement late Tuesday that Trump had subsequently called the families.

“President Trump spoke to all four of the families of those who were killed in action in Niger,” she said. “He offered condolences on behalf of a grateful nation and assured them their family’s extraordinary sacrifice to the country will never be forgotten.”

Kelly seldom talks about his son, 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, who died from a Taliban land mine in Afghanistan in 2010.

A White House official who demanded anonymity said Obama did not call the elder Kelly after the death. The official did not say whether Kelly received a letter.

Obama’s office declined to comment. Kelly, who was a general when his son died, has not spoken about his interaction with Obama on the subject.

Kelly attended a breakfast the Obamas hosted in May 2011, six months after his son’s death, and was seated at first lady Michelle Obama’s table, according to a person familiar with the breakfast who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

A former White House official flatly denied Trump’s claim that Obama rarely called families of military lost during his administration.

“President Trump’s claim is wrong. President Obama engaged families of the fallen and wounded warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to Section 60 at Arlington, visits to Walter Reed, visits to Dover, and regular meetings with Gold Star Families at the White House and across the country,” the former official said.

The references to Obama’s actions are to the area of Arlington National Cemetery where war dead are buried, the Army medical center where some wounded warriors are treated and to Dover Air Force Base, the Delaware airfield where the bodies of service members killed overseas are returned to the United States.