Biden calls Trump 'sucker,' 'loser' referencing infamous comments in presidential debate

James Powel

June 27, 2024 at 10:49 p.m.·1 min read

President Joe Biden referenced former President Donald Trump calling fallen soldiers "suckers" and "losers" during the first Presidential debate.

"My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You're the sucker, you're the loser," Biden told Trump referencing the death of his son, Beau.

The line Biden referenced comes from a 2020 Atlantic article that quoted Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, disparaging fallen soldiers when he was still president.

Trump denied the comments from the debate stage Thursday, as he has done previously, and demanded an apology from Biden to which the President said not a chance.

Where the 'suckers' and 'losers' comment originated

In 2020 Jeffery Goldberg reported in an article for The Atlantic that Trump disparaged killed soldiers when cancelling a trip toto the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, in France, in 2018.

The article read:

"In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed."

In 2023, General John Kelley confirmed the statements on the record to CNN's Jake Tapper, a debate moderator who did not challenge Trump on the denial.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump hears 'sucker and loser' military comment from Biden in debate

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Where the 'suckers' and 'losers' comment originated

Watch the first Presidential debate

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