Former Pentagon chief: Trump ‘let down our country’ by skipping WWI cemetery visit due to rain

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday ripped President Trump for skipping a visit to a World War I memorial in France because of rain.

“It was not that big a challenge or problem. It was an embarrassment,” Hagel, who served in the Obama administration between 2013 and 2015, said on “CNN Right Now.”

“He let down our veterans, he let down our country. And I think he sent a very wrong message to the world,” he added, saying that he’s disappointed Trump didn’t make the trip considering the magnitude of the role the war played in the world’s history. 

“It was an embarrassment,” says former Defense secretary Chuck Hagel about Trump skipping the veterans event: “He let down our veterans, he let down our country.” https://t.co/xz7o6nEKTx pic.twitter.com/Y7ZdcbmKNO

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) November 12, 2018

Trump has faced widespread criticism over his decision not to attend the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial over the weekend as world leaders commemorated the day that marked 100 years since the end of the First World War. 

{mosads}The White House said in a statement that the visit was canceled due to “scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather.”

But many domestic and international officials have criticized Trump for skipping the event, which was attended by multiple other world leaders.

“They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen,” Nicholas Soames, a British politician and grandson of Winston Churchill, tweeted.

“President @realDonaldTrump a no-show because of raindrops? Those veterans the president didn’t bother to honor fought in the rain, in the mud, in the snow – & many died in trenches for the cause of freedom,” former Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted.

Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran, has repeatedly knocked Trump throughout his presidency. In January, he called the president an “embarrassment” after reports surfaced that he referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries.”