Which news outlets reported Trump calling veterans suckers and losers and are their accounts verified?
Executive summary
Multiple mainstream outlets — including The Atlantic (detailed in other reporting), The Hill, NPR and major fact-checkers — have reported claims that Trump called some veterans “suckers” and “losers,” tracing the allegation primarily to a 2020 Atlantic report corroborated by former officials; NPR and The Hill have covered subsequent debate and reactions [1] [2]. Independent fact-checking and reporting (Snopes, Reuters) document the origin and persistence of the claim and note Trump’s denials and challenges to the sourcing [3] [4].
1. How the allegation entered the public record
The claim that Donald Trump called U.S. service members who died in war “suckers” and “losers” first appeared in a multi-source Atlantic article in September 2020; that article described a canceled visit to a World War I cemetery and reported several attributed remarks, which then became the core factual claim other outlets referenced (not in provided snippets for The Atlantic directly; referenced in follow-ups summarized by The Hill) [1] [5].
2. Which outlets reported or amplified the claim
Mainstream outlets and institutions have repeated or analyzed the allegation over time: The Hill summarized the Atlantic reporting and its political fallout in June 2024 and noted corroboration from former White House officials; NPR covered Trump’s characterization of a later veterans’ video as “seditious” while reporting on veterans’ reactions to his rhetoric; Rolling Stone and Democrats.org have reasserted the line linking Trump to calling veterans “suckers” and “losers,” citing The Atlantic and other reporting [1] [2] [5] [6].
3. Who corroborated the reporting and who disputed it
Some former officials and aides have publicly corroborated parts of the Atlantic account — for example, John Kelly’s contemporaneous statements and other sources who later spoke to reporters — and congressional Democrats used the reporting to criticize Trump [7] [1]. Trump has denied the assertions; Reuters’ fact-checking pieces and other outlets note his denials and have investigated altered media and misattributions around related clips [4]. Fact-checkers like Snopes traced the rumor’s longevity and its Atlantic origin while assessing subsequent uses in political messaging [3].
4. Verification status of the outlets’ accounts
Outlets such as The Atlantic that originally published the anonymous-sourced reporting relied on multiple unnamed sources inside the administration; subsequent coverage in The Hill, NPR and Rolling Stone treated that reporting as the basis for political coverage and context [1] [2] [5]. Fact-checkers (Snopes) and wire-service verifiers (Reuters) have confirmed that the claim stems from the Atlantic article and documented both corroboration from some officials and ongoing disputes over direct, on-the-record sourcing [3] [4].
5. What the fact-checkers say and limits of public evidence
Snopes’ analysis traces the origin to the Atlantic and explains how the story resurfaced in campaigns and speeches; Reuters highlighted instances of altered video and Trump’s denials, noting the gap between anonymous-sourced reporting and irrefutable audio or on-the-record admissions [3] [4]. Available sources do not mention any unambiguous, contemporaneous audio or video capturing Trump using those exact words at the events described; most sourcing depends on interviews with officials and aides [3] [4].
6. Political uses and competing narratives
Democratic organizations and some news outlets have used the allegation as political ammunition, citing past reporting to attack Trump’s record on veterans and VA policy; conservative and pro-Trump responses have sought to discredit the reporting as false or manufactured, pointing to denials and to the lack of direct recorded proof [6] [8] [4]. The Hill documents both the use of the claim by political opponents and the pushback from Trump and allies [1].
7. What readers should take away
The allegation has been widely reported and remains a notable part of Trump’s public record because multiple outlets and several former officials have treated the Atlantic reporting as credible; fact-checkers confirm the story’s origin and note corroboration from some insiders, but no public, contemporaneous recording has been produced in the cited reporting to definitively settle the dispute [1] [3] [4]. Readers should weigh repeated reporting and official corroboration against the absence of direct, on-the-record audio/video evidence in current reporting [3] [4].
Limitations: This analysis uses only the provided sources; available sources do not mention an on-the-record audio or video capturing Trump uttering the words “suckers” and “losers” at the cited cemetery event [3] [4].