--- title: Father of Fallen Soldier Says Trump Promised Him $25,000 description: A White House spokesperson says the check has been sent, but the father says he never got it canonical: https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-18T20:48:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:55:04.983Z article:section: Politics og:title: Fallen Soldier’s Father Says President Trump Never Sent $25,000 He Promised og:description: A White House spokesperson says the check has been sent og:url: https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6356b80b5f318bc9/6988e288fb4eac0580894362/trump-june.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: President Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fallen Soldier’s Father Says President Trump Never Sent $25,000 He Promised twitter:description: A White House spokesperson says the check has been sent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6356b80b5f318bc9/6988e288fb4eac0580894362/trump-june.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fallen Soldier’s Father Says President Trump Promised Him $25,000, But Never Sent the Check > 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 [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 18, 2017 8:48 PM UTC  President Trump reportedly told a fallen soldier's father he would send him a check for $25,000, but the father said it was never sent. President Trump reportedly told a fallen soldier's father he would send him a check for $25,000, but the father said it was never sent. Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 18, 2017 8:48 PM UTC The father of a fallen soldier said [President Donald Trump](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-offered-a-grieving-military-father-25000-in-a-call-but-didnt-follow-through/2017/10/18/8d4cbc8c-b43a-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb%5Fstory.html?tid=ss%5Ftw&utm%5Fterm=.774342d4f8db) offered to send him $25,000 during a condolence call, but that he hasn’t received a check. Chris Baldridge’s son, Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge, died in [Afghanistan](http://time.com/4968868/eu-betraying-afghanistan-dangerous-aid-policy/) in June, the [Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-offered-a-grieving-military-father-25000-in-a-call-but-didnt-follow-through/2017/10/18/8d4cbc8c-b43a-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.faba4d95bcbd). Baldridge says [Trump](http://time.com/4988027/la-david-johnson-soldier-donald-trump-widow/) called a few weeks later and they spoke for about 15 minutes. When Baldridge noted he was struggling to make ends meet, while his ex-wife was expected to receive a $100,000 death gratuity from the Pentagon, [Trump](http://time.com/4987242/donald-trump-frederica-wilson-soldier-widow/) offered to write a check himself. “He said, ‘I’m going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,’ and I was just floored,” Baldridge told the _Post_. “I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, ‘No other president has ever done something like this,’ but he said, ‘I’m going to do it.’” When Baldridge later received a condolence letter, he says, “I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a check in there, to be honest. I know it was kind of far-fetched thinking. But I was like, ‘Damn, no check.’ Just a letter saying ‘I’m sorry.’” A White House spokesperson told the _Post_, “The check has been sent. It’s disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media’s biased agenda.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/"},"headline":"Fallen Soldier’s Father Says President Trump Promised Him $25,000, But Never Sent the Check","datePublished":"2017-10-18T20:48:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:55:04.983Z","description":"A White House spokesperson says the check has been sent","url":"https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6356b80b5f318bc9/6988e288fb4eac0580894362/trump-june.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6356b80b5f318bc9/6988e288fb4eac0580894362/trump-june.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump","caption":"President Trump","creditText":"Win McNamee—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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4988355/fallen-soldier-father-donald-trump-check/","name":"Fallen Soldier’s Father Says President Trump Promised Him $25,000, But Never Sent the Check"}}]}] ```