--- title: Obama Aides Pushed Back on Trump's Claim on Military Calls description: President Trump said Monday that his predecessor had never called the families of U.S. soldiers killed in the line of duty overseas. canonical: https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-16T20:51:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:52:59.516Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trump's Claim He Didn't Call Military Families og:description: When pressed, Trump conceded that he did not know og:url: https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt336bb366740c52ee/698778148e060172b245984d/455593834.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: President Obama Speaks At U.S. Central Command At Macdill Air Force Base og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trump's Claim He Didn't Call Military Families twitter:description: When pressed, Trump conceded that he did not know twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt336bb366740c52ee/698778148e060172b245984d/455593834.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trump's Claim He Didn't Call Military Families > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 16, 2017 8:51 PM UTC  TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 17: U.S. President Barack Obama greets soldiers during a visit to the U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force Base on September 17, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. Obama visited the base to receive a briefing from his top commanders at CENTCOM, on the strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) TAMPA, FL - SEPTEMBER 17: U.S. President Barack Obama greets soldiers during a visit to the U.S. Central Command at the MacDill Air Force Base on September 17, 2014 in Tampa, Florida. Obama visited the base to receive a briefing from his top commanders at CENTCOM, on the strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Oct 16, 2017 8:51 PM UTC President Trump said Monday that his predecessor had never called the families of U.S. soldiers killed in the line of duty overseas, a claim he quickly walked back after he was asked for evidence to support it. During [a press conference in the Rose Garden](http://time.com/4984507/donald-trump-mitch-mcconnell-rose-garden-press-conference/), Trump was asked whether he would call the families of the four U.S. Army special operations commandos killed [in an ambush in Niger ](http://time.com/4970079/niger-us-deaths-commandos-army/)earlier this month. He said he would, then claimed that President Obama had not done so in similar situations. “The traditional way if you look at President Obama and the other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls,” he said. “I like to call when its appropriate, when I think I’m able to do it. They made the ultimate sacrifice, so generally I would say that I like to call.” In a follow-up question, Trump was challenged on the claim and conceded that he didn’t actually know if Obama called or not. “President Obama, I think probably did sometimes, and maybe sometimes he didn’t,” he said. “I don’t know, that’s what I was told.” Obama’s office declined to comment. But his former aides were quick to rebut the claim. “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,” one former White House official told _TIME._ On social media, the statements were even stronger in condemning Trump’s remarks. Alyssa Mastromonaco, the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations in the Obama White House, [categorized the claim](https://twitter.com/AlyssaMastro44/status/919988497976582144) on Twitter as a “f—ing lie.” “To say president obama (or past presidents) didn’t call the family members of soldiers KIA – he’s a deranged animal,” Mastromonaco wrote. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s foreign policy adviser called Trump’s claim “is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards.” > [](https://twitter.com/brhodes/status/919990244338032640) And Pete Souza, Obama’s White House photographer, quickly posted a photograph on Instagram of Barack and Michelle Obama meeting with the parents of Sergeant Jared C. Monti who was killed in Afghanistan and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. “I also photographed him meeting with hundreds of wounded soldiers, and family members of those killed in action,” Souza wrote. At points in the Obama Administration, families of fallen soldiers [expressed frustration](https://www.click2houston.com/news/father-of-fallen-marine-upset-by-presidents-letter%5F20151124163758615) with the White House condolence letters, with one father calling it “impersonal.” In late 2010, the family of a soldier who was killed in action reached out to the White House and [said he was told](http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2010/12/30/his-name-was-sean-and-he-died-for-his-country/) that “Obama did not regularly make phone calls to the families of fallen soldiers.” The story was picked up by the conservative media. Trump previously criticized Obama in 2012, arguing that his letters were not personal enough. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/241250046081900545) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/"},"headline":"Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trump's Claim He Didn't Call Military Families","datePublished":"2017-10-16T20:51:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:52:59.516Z","description":"Trump walked back the claims after he was pressed for clarification","url":"https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Military","Barack Obama","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt336bb366740c52ee/698778148e060172b245984d/455593834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt336bb366740c52ee/698778148e060172b245984d/455593834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Speaks At U.S. Central Command At Macdill Air Force Base","caption":"President Obama Speaks At U.S. Central Command At Macdill Air Force Base","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4984599/donald-trump-barack-obama-soldiers-families/","name":"Obama Aides Pushed Back on President Trump's Claim He Didn't Call Military Families"}}]}] ```