Fury as Trump downplays severity of brain injuries suffered by 109 US soldiers: ‘What does injured mean?’

Donald Trump is facing backlash for downplaying the traumatic brain injuries suffered by 109 U.S. service members after an Iranian ballistic missile attack in 2020. 

The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks at a campaign press event on Tuesday after a reporter asked him if he should have been “tougher” on Iran during his time in the White House following the attack that left troops injured.

“First of all, injured, what does injured mean?” Trump replied. “You mean because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort.”

More than a dozen missiles struck the al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on January 8, 2020. No U.S. service members were killed but approximately 109 were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. Twenty-nine of the injured soldiers received Purple Hearts in the wake of the attack.

At the time, Trump tweeted: “All is well!” – apparently against the advice of his officials.

On Tuesday, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Pentagon spokesperson during the Trump administration, wrote on X that the Department of Defense had advised the White House in January 2020 to avoid saying there were no injuries because “initial assessments are often wrong”. Later, U.S. officials revealed that more than 100 soldiers had suffered brain injuries. 

But Trump still repeated the claim on Tuesday, saying that “nobody was ever tougher on Iraq” than him – appearing to confuse Iraq with Iran.

Lawmakers and veterans slammed the remarks.

“This is who Donald Trump is: A man who called fallen American soldiers ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’,” Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Navy veteran,said. “A man who just dismissed the sacrifice of service members injured while he was Commander in Chief. A man who should never have that responsibility