Murdered female soldier's family defend Trump amid slur claims

The family of a murdered female soldier defended Donald Trump as his team slammed media reports of a crude slur about the victim's funeral.

Vanessa Guillén's sister Maya ignored claims Trump had said 'it doesn't cost $60,000 to bury a f***ing Mexican' after being told of the funeral bill after the 2020 killing.

'I am beyond grateful for all the support President Donald Trump showed our family during a trying time,' Maya said.

'I witnessed firsthand how President Trump honors our nation's heroes' service,' she added: 'We are grateful for everything he has done and continues to do to support our troops.'

Trump spokesman Alex Pfeiffer also branded The Atlantic allegations nonsense. The magazine claims Trump made the outburst after meeting with Guillén's family and offering to pay for the funeral. 

Pfeiffer said: 'Donald Trump did not say f**king Mexican.

'This is an outrageous lie from The Atlantic two weeks before the election.'

A spokesman for the acting secretary of defense at the time, Kash Patel, also denied Trump having said that. 

Patel said Trump 'strongly urged that Spc. Vanessa Guillen's grieving family should not have to bear the cost of any funeral arrangements, even offering to personally pay himself in order to honor her life and sacrifice.'

Guillén, 20, was murdered near the Fort Hood in 2020 by fellow soldier Aaron Robinson.

'Did they bill us for the funeral? What did it cost?' Trump said, according to a bombshell story published Tuesday in The Atlantic.

The aide responded by telling him it cost $60,000, which made Trump angry, multiple people in attendance in the meeting told the magazine. 

'It doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f***ing Mexican,' the president is accused of saying at the time.

'Don't pay it!' Trump reportedly ordered chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows also denied the claims about his former boss. 

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President Trump meets with the distraught family of slain Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen in the Oval Office and offers to personally pay for her funeral three months after she was 'bludgeoned with a hammer and her body dismembered'

The Atlantic has claimed that Trump never sent the family any money to cover funeral costs, despite having publicly told Guillén's mother he would when the family visited him in 2020.

'There has not been a funeral yet? How come?' he asked them at the time. When they said they were told to wait, he replied quickly: 'No. That's no good.' 

Turning to an aide, he then said: 'We've got to take care of that.' 

'When would you like to have the funeral? As soon as possible? We'll make sure that happens. Where will you have the funeral, do you know?

'If I can help you out with the funeral I'll help you. Financially, I'll help you. If you need something we'll take care of it. 

'We will make sure she is very respected,' he said. 

Gloria, Vanessa's mother, spoke in Spanish and a translator relayed her comments to Trump at the time, professing her gratitude. 

The story by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg cites family attorney Natalie Khawam, who said that though they sent the bill to the White House, costs were only ever covered by the Army and some charitable donations.

Another person familiar with Trump's behavior said he complained about it again later in the day. 

'Can you believe it? F***ing people, trying to rip me off,' Trump is alleged to have said.

The story leads off a lengthy, negative piece about Trump by the liberal publication, which includes criticism from former staffers. 

Guillen was declared missing on April 22, 2020 when her family did not hear from her after she went to work for a shift in the military base' armory room. The Army designated her as AWOL two days after she vanished. 

Her disappearance sparked a large-scale search, but her dismembered and buried remains were not found until June 30 at Leon River - 23 miles from where she was last seen. 

Cecily Aguilar was the only suspect arrested in the death of Guillen, who was killed at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas.

Authorities say Guillen was killed by Aguilar's alleged boyfriend – army specialist Aaron Robinson – after she saw a photo of the then 20-year-old on his phone.

Aguilar, who was married to another soldier, helped Robinson dispose of Guillen's dismembered body after he bludgeoned her to death, burying her remains in a rural area near the base.

Robinson committed suicide on the day Guillen's body was found, after escaping officers who had detained him for her murder. 

Aguilar in 2022 pleaded guilty to a single count of accessory to murder and three counts of making false statements.

She was sentenced to 30 years in prison for her part in the crime, with Guillen's killing sparking a movement of reporting sexual abuse in the military.

Aguilar's sentence came after hours of testimony from attorneys, experts and Guillen's family, and was the maximum punishment Aguilar could receive.

A psychologist called as a witness for the defense testified Monday that Aguilar has reactive attachment disorder, meaning she did not form healthy emotional bonds with her parents or caregivers.

But Doctor Jon Matthew Fabian said the condition wouldn't keep Aguilar from knowing right or wrong.

A criminal complaint revealed that Aguilar said that she and Robinson disposed of Guillen's body by dismembering her and hiding her remains in the woods.

Authorities accuse Robinson of bludgeoning Guillen to death at the base before asking Aguilar for her help to dispose of her body.

'He told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer,' investigators with The Texas Department of Public Safety said last year.

Initially, Aguilar claimed she was at home with Robinson the night Guillen disappeared, but his phone pinged in Belton, Texas, by a bridge near the Leon River in the early hours of the morning. 

Investigators noted that Robinson and Aguilar shared multiple phone calls the night of Guillen's disappearance, which Aguilar said was because she couldn't find her phone. 

Robinson was the last person to speak to Guillen, who vanished after telling her family that she had been sexually harassed on base. 

On June 30, hours after investigators discovered Guillen's dismembered body, Army officials at Fort Hood detained Robinson.

However, he managed to escape and was later spotted by Army and civilian police in the city of Killeen, just outside of Fort Hood, before he eventually shot himself.

Two weeks after Guillen's body was found, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges, with a judge later dismissing her attorney's attempts to throw out her confession.

She claimed that she had not been read her Miranda rights at the time her statement was taken, but the bid was dismissed.

Guillen´s family has said they believe she was sexually harassed during her time at the Texas military base.

Army officials said they do not believe Robinson harassed Guillen, but admitted in a report a year later that Guillen was harassed by another soldier at the base.

After her death, her family's claims of sexual harassment at the Texas base ignited a movement on social media of former and active service members who shared their experiences at military bases throughout the country using the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen.

Then-U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during a visit to the Texas base that it had one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army.

He added that the patterns of violence were a direct result of 'leadership failures. '

State and federal lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 honoring Guillen that removed some authority from commanders and gave survivors more options to report abuse and harassment.

Army officials disciplined 21 commissioned and non-commissioned officers in connection with Guillen's death.