Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday denied a report that former President Trump had an outburst over the cost of a funeral for a murdered Army private after he agreed to pay.
“I was in the discussions featured in the Atlantic’s latest hit piece against President Trump. Let me say this,” Meadows posted on X. “Any suggestion that President Trump disparaged Ms. Guillen or refused to pay for her funeral expenses is absolutely false.”
According to a piece in The Atlantic, Trump held an Oval Office meeting with the family of Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old Army private, who was bludgeoned to death by another solider in 2020 at Ford Hood in Texas. Her burned remains were found two months later in a riverbank and her death sparked outrage.
Trump, who was president at the time, offered to pay for her funeral costs, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported. The family’s attorney reportedly said she thought the military would be taking care of the costs.
At a leadership meeting months later, Trump asked if they had been billed for Guillén’s funeral. He was told it cost $60,000, according to The Atlantic.
“Trump became angry. ‘It doesn’t cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f—— Mexican!” Goldberg reported. “He later turned to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and issued an order: ‘Don’t pay it!’”
Guillén’s family attorney told Goldberg that she sent the bill for the funeral to the White House, but no money was ever received from Trump, The Atlantic’s article said.
The Trump campaign and Meadows denied Goldberg’s reporting.
“He was nothing but kind, gracious, and wanted to make sure that the military and the U.S. government did right by Vanessa Guillén and her family,” Meadows’s post on X said.
In a statement reported by the Atlantic and sent by the Trump campaign to The Hill, the campaign said the reporting was “absolutely false.”
“President Donald Trump has spent his life caring for America’s military heroes. As President, he kept our troops out of harm’s way, secured the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, and signed historic VA reforms. As a private citizen, he has financially supported veterans and has forcefully advocated for the Kabul Gold Star families. There has been no greater advocate for our brave military men and women than Donald J. Trump,” Trump campaign adviser Alex Pfeiffer, who is also featured in the article, said in a statement about the reporting.
Guillén’s sister, Mayra Guillén posted on X in opposition of the article, too. She said she voted for Trump and that Goldberg exploited her family.
The Guillén family lawyer, Natalie Knawam, who is also featured in the piece, said in a post of her own that Goldberg misrepresented their conversation and “outright LIED in HIS sensational story.”
