Donald Trump’s comments regarding the US soldiers who died in battle have earned him a wave of backlash, especially from military officials and veterans. Following the cancellation of his visit to the cemetery that commemorated US soldiers who died in World War I, Trump reportedly brought home works of art from a diplomat’s home back to Washington.
A new report has surfaced that during Trump’s visit to France in 2018, he took home hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of art from the home of the US Ambassador to France in Paris. The three works of art that Trump brought back to the US had an overall value of $750,000 – a painting of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis in 1785, a bust of Franklin that is believed to be a Jean-Antoine Houdon creation, and figurines of mythical characters in Greek mythology.
The acquisition of these works was met with some conflict between the State Department and the White House regarding whether or not it was legal to bring the works home. They had ultimately decided that it was legal citing that it was the property of the US government.
However, it was revealed that all the works taken back to Washington were all copies and not the original. The original painting of Franklin could be found in the National Portrait Gallery, which was eventually borrowed to be placed in the Oval Office. The bust and the figurines were also found to be replicas and hold little value.
White House spokesman Judd Deere has defended Trump’s actions, reasoning that Trump brought the artworks that were later revealed to be fake – for the country.
Meanwhile, former Defense secretary Chuck Hagel recently condemned Trump’s comments towards fallen military troops. Speaking to ABC News, Hagel revealed that Trump’s insults towards the soldiers who died in combat, even if the report came from anonymous sources, his comments are in line with previous statements and actions that the president has made. Hagel cited Trump’s comments about the late Senator John McCain as an example.
“Let’s go back and look at Mr. Trump’s words himself coming out of his own mouth starting in 2016 with what he said about John McCain and what he continued to say about John McCain. How he degraded the service of Gens. Mattis and McMaster and most recently Gen. Kelly. The history of this president over the last three and four years is pretty clear,” said Hagel.