--- title: Donald Trump Suggests U.S. Soldiers Embezzled Money in Iraq description: Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested soldiers who embezzled funds from Iraqi reconstruction efforts were "living very well." canonical: https://time.com/4369774/donald-trump-iraq-war/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-15T14:05:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:29:25.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Camp: Iraq Theft Claims Weren't About U.S. Troops og:description: His campaign says he wasn't referring to American soldiers og:url: https://time.com/4369774/donald-trump-iraq-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679bcb65f2dc050/698897f6bc6cfc4ee63dd6a1/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Trump holds a rally with supporters in Fresno, California og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Camp: Iraq Theft Claims Weren't About U.S. Troops twitter:description: His campaign says he wasn't referring to American soldiers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679bcb65f2dc050/698897f6bc6cfc4ee63dd6a1/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Camp: Iraq Theft Claims Weren't About U.S. Troops > 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 [Hallie Jackson and Alex Jaffe / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Hallie Jackson and Alex Jaffe / NBC News Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:29 AM UTCPublished: Jun 15, 2016 2:05 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters in Fresno, Calif., on May 27, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters in Fresno, Calif., on May 27, 2016. Jonathan Ernst—Reuters by [Hallie Jackson and Alex Jaffe / NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## Hallie Jackson and Alex Jaffe / NBC News Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:29 AM UTCPublished: Jun 15, 2016 2:05 PM UTC Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested soldiers who embezzled funds from Iraqi reconstruction efforts were “living very well.” “Iraq. Crooked as hell,” Trump said at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. “How about bringing baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars, and handing it out?” he asked. “I want to know who are the soldiers that had that job because I think they’re living very well right now, whoever they may be.” Trump’s spokesperson insists he wasn’t referring to American military personnel. “Mr. Trump was referring to Iraqi soldiers,” Hope Hicks said to NBC News Tuesday evening… [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/card/trump-camp-iraq-theft-claims-werent-about-u-s-troops-n592671?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4369774/donald-trump-iraq-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4369774/donald-trump-iraq-war/"},"headline":"Trump Camp: Iraq Theft Claims Weren't About U.S. Troops","datePublished":"2016-06-15T14:05:17.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:29:25.000Z","description":"His campaign says he wasn't referring to American troops","url":"https://time.com/4369774/donald-trump-iraq-war/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679bcb65f2dc050/698897f6bc6cfc4ee63dd6a1/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hallie Jackson and Alex Jaffe / NBC News"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9679bcb65f2dc050/698897f6bc6cfc4ee63dd6a1/donald-trump11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump holds a rally with supporters in Fresno, California","caption":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally with supporters in Fresno, California, U.S. May 27, 2016. 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