© EFE/Alicia L. PerezPeople visiting and paying homage to a mural with the image of Vanessa Guillen in a neighborhood in the south of Houston, Texas, USA. July 04, 2020.
Guillén's death at the hands of a fellow soldier and his girlfriend became national news in 2020, with Trump comforting the grief-stricken family and extending death benefits. He also offered to cover the costs personally if the Army did not pay for the funeral expenses.
The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, however, attempted to rewrite history on Tuesday, claiming that Trump was outraged when he learned that Guillén's funeral, which included heightened security and closed streets, cost $60,000.
According to the magazine — relying on an anonymous source — Trump allegedly said, "It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a fucking Mexican!" and ordered then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to deny payment.
Guillén's sister, Mayra, issued a viral statement on X, condemning The Atlantic's distorted portrayal of her experience with Trump.
"I don't appreciate how you are exploiting my sister's death for politics- hurtful & disrespectful to the important changes she made for service members," Mayra wrote on X, garnering over 3 million views.
"President Donald Trump did nothing but show respect to my family & Vanessa. In fact, I voted for President Trump today," Mayra added.
In another post, Mayra emphasized that her sister's death should never be politicized.
"Unbelievable," she continued.
The denials did not stop there as Meadows took to X, refuting the allegations.
"Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false," Meadows wrote.
"He was nothing but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Vanessa Guillen and her family."Meadows's spokesperson, Ben Williamson, explicitly denied that Trump ever made the remarks in comments provided before publication.
The Atlantic omitted these comments, claiming that Williamson denied ever hearing such remarks.
This marked the second instance of The Atlantic publishing demonstrably false claims against Trump.
The magazine previously claimed that Trump refused to visit a veteran cemetery because he allegedly called fallen soldiers "suckers" and "losers."
It was later revealed that the cemetery trip was canceled due to poor weather, which required Trump to travel by helicopter.
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