President Donald Trump has denied a magazine report that he had spoken disparagingly about fallen US military personnel buried in Europe and declined to visit an American cemetery during a trip to France because he thought it unimportant.
The Atlantic reported that Mr Trump, a Republican who is running for re-election and who has touted his record helping US veterans, had referred to marines buried in an American cemetery near Paris as "losers" and declined to visit in 2018 because of concern that the rain that day would mess up his hair.
"To think that I would make statements negative to our military and fallen heroes when nobody has done what I've done" for the US armed forces, Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday. "It's a total lie ... It's a disgrace."
The president said he did not go to the cemetery because weather prevented a helicopter flight. The alternative, a long drive, would have meant going through very busy areas of Paris and the Secret Service objected, he said.
"The Secret Service told me, 'you can't do it.' I said, 'I have to do it. I want to be there.' They said, 'you can't do it,'" Mr Trump said.
However, a senior Defence Department official with first-hand knowledge of events confirmed Mr Trump's reported remarks to The Associated Press, saying the president made the comments as he begged off visiting the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of November 10, 2018.
Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Mr Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. Mr Trump responded by saying he did not want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who is leading Mr Trump in national polls ahead of the November 3 election, emphasised his own commitment to helping members of the military in a response to the report.
"If the revelations in today's Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the President of the United States," Mr Biden said in a statement released by his campaign.
"And if I have the honour of serving as the next commander in chief, I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honour their sacrifice – always."
As a presidential candidate, Mr Trump made negative comments about now deceased senator John McCain for having been captured during the Vietnam War.
“He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured," Mr Trump said in 2015 when he was running for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr Trump said on Thursday he disagreed with McCain but still respected him.
"I was never a fan. I will admit that openly," he said. "I disagreed with John McCain. But I still respected him."
