US President Donald Trump has drawn fire from families of fallen soldiers, over his claims that previous presidents had often ignored their suffering.
Mr Trump told a news conference on Monday (local time) he had written to the families of four soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger two weeks ago and also planned to call them.
"Most of them [previous presidents] didn't make calls," he said, later conceding that President Barack Obama may have, but others didn't.
But his claims have been blasted by the families who have found some comfort in sympathy from the White House, with Delilia O'Malley calling Mr Trump a "fat f***ing liar".
"When my brother was killed, Pres Bush listened while I screamed at him and then held me as I sobbed, you fat f***ing liar," tweeted Ms O'Malley, whose brother died in Iraq.
Her disgust has been backed up by other families and staff of ex-presidents.
Freddy Ford, spokesman for President George W Bush, insisted Mr Bush wrote to all the grieving families, even at the height of two wars.
He said Mr Bush also called or met "hundreds, if not thousands" of family members.
Mr Obama's official photographer, Pete Souza, said he photographed the former president meeting hundreds of wounded soldiers and family members of those killed in action.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted Trump wasn't criticising his predecessors, "but stating a fact".
She said anyone claiming a former president had called every family was "mistaken".
Newshub.
