Biden says Trump ‘doesn’t deserve to be the Commander in Chief for my son’

President

Joe
Biden
on
Wednesday
choked
up
as
he
blasted

Donald
Trump,
saying
the
presumptive

Republican
presidential
nominee “doesn’t
deserve
to
be
the
Commander
in
Chief
for
my
son.”

Biden’s
scathing
comment
referenced
both
his
late
son
Beau
Biden,
who
served
as
a
major
in
the

Delaware
Army
National
Guard,
and
Trump
reportedly
calling
dead
U.S.
servicemen
in
a
French

cemetery “suckers
and
losers”
when
he
was
president.

The
incumbent
Democrat
made
the
remarks
during
a
speech
to
a
group
of
United
Steelworkers
union
members
in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.

“But
one
of
the
things
that
I
was,
as
I
was
doing
it
today,
I
was
reminded
of
what
my
opponent
said
in
Paris
not
too
long
ago,”
Biden
said.

“They
asked
him
to
go
visit
American
grave
sites.
He
said ‘no.’
He
wouldn’t
do
it.
Because
they
were
all
suckers
and
losers,”
Biden
said,
citing
the
reports
about
Trump’s
rationale.

“I’m
not
making
that
up.
The
staff
who
were
with
him
acknowledge
it
today.
Suckers
and
losers.
That
man
doesn’t
deserve,”
Biden
said,
pausing
for
several
seconds
as
he
choked
up
before
adding, “to
be
the
Commander
in
Chief
for
my
son.”

A
spokesman
for
Trump’s
campaign
did
not
immediately
respond
to
CNBC’s
request
for
comment
on
Biden’s
statement.

Beau
Biden,
who
was
Delaware’s
attorney
general,
served
in
the
Judge
Advocate
General’s
Corps
in
the
National
Guard.
He
spent
a
year
on
active
duty
in
the
Guard,
which
included
seven
months
of
being
deployed
in
Iraq,
starting
in
2008.

Beau
Biden
died
from
brain
cancer
in
2015,
when
his
father
was
vice
president
in
the
administration
of
former
President

Barack
Obama.

In
October,
Trump’s
former
White
House
chief
of
staff
John
Kelly
confirmed
to

CNN
details
from
a
2020
article
in

The
Atlantic
that
included
dismissive
comments
about
members
of
the
U.S.
military.

The
Atlantic
article,
written
by
Jeffrey
Goldberg,
opens
with
a
description
of
then-President
Trump
canceling
a
visit
to
the
Aisne-Marne
American
Cemetery,
just
outside
of
Paris,
in
2018,
claiming
that
rain
prevented
a
helicopter
from
flying
him,
and
that
the
Secret
Service
would
not
drive
him
there.

“Neither
claim
was
true,”
Goldberg
wrote.

“Trump
rejected
the
idea
of
the
visit
because
he
feared
his
hair
would
become
disheveled
in
the
rain,
and
because
he
did
not
believe
it
important
to
honor
American
war
dead,
according
to
four
people
with
firsthand
knowledge
of
the
discussion
that
day,”
Goldberg
wrote.

“In
a
conversation
with
senior
staff
members
on
the
morning
of
the
scheduled
visit,
Trump
said, ‘Why
should
I
go
to
that
cemetery?
It’s
filled
with
losers,'”
the
article
recounted.

“In
a
separate
conversation
on
the
same
trip,
Trump
referred
to
the
more
than
1,800
marines
who
lost
their
lives
at
Belleau
Wood
as ‘suckers’
for
getting
killed.”

Kelly,
who
is
a
retired
four-star
Marine
general,
in
October
told
CNN, “What
can
I
add
that
has
not
already
been
said?”

“A
person
that
thinks
those
who
defend
their
country
in
uniform,
or
are
shot
down
or
seriously
wounded
in
combat,
or
spend
years
being
tortured
as
POWs
are
all ‘suckers’
because ‘there
is
nothing
in
it
for
them,'”
Kelly
said.

“A
person
that
did
not
want
to
be
seen
in
the
presence
of
military
amputees
because ‘it
doesn’t
look
good
for
me.’
A
person
who
demonstrated
open
contempt
for
a
Gold
Star
family
—
for
all
Gold
Star
families
—
on
TV
during
the
2016
campaign,
and
rants
that
our
most
precious
heroes
who
gave
their
lives
in
America’s
defense
are ‘losers’
and
wouldn’t
visit
their
graves
in
France.”

A
Trump
spokesman
told
CNN
in
response
to
that
article: “John
Kelly
has
totally
clowned
himself
with
these
debunked
stories
he’s
made
up
because
he
didn’t
serve
his
president
well
while
working
as
chief
of
staff.”