Donald Trump has blasted America's libel laws for preventing him from taking action against The Atlantic after they claimed he called dead troops 'suckers' and 'losers'.
The President, speaking to Fox News in an interview aired Sunday night, claimed the story was a 'lie' but there was nothing he could do about it.
He also ranted against John Bolton, calling him a 'very stupid person' as well as his opponent Joe Biden who he once again accused of being barely coherent.
Donald Trump has blasted America's libel laws for preventing him from taking action against The Atlantic after they claimed he called dead troops 'suckers' and 'losers'
The report in The Atlantic, published at the start of this month, quoted unnamed military sources claiming the president called US war heroes in a Paris cemetery 'losers' and said 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood were 'suckers' for getting killed.
But Trump said in his latest interview: 'It's all a lie. The worst lie of all is that I'm standing over the grave of soldiers from many years ago, warriors of many years ago, who I cherish, I'm very strong on the military, I love the military and I respect the military.
'They made up a lie that I called them suckers and losers. It was made up by this stupid magazine The Atlantic which I don't read obviously and most other people don't read it either.
'They picked that up and we disputed it and we have so far 27 people who said it never happened. They have no people, unsourced. They end up taking that and making a television commercial out of it.'
He also ranted against John Bolton, calling him a 'very stupid person' who wanted to take America into a new war
Donald Trump told Fox News' Mark Levin that Democrats did not want a quick COVID vaccine
He added: 'It's very sad to see when they can take something like that which is a total lie, which was very successfully disputed, they make a television commercial out of it and I can't do anything from the standpoint of libel.
'Our libel laws are so pathetic, the lawyers, good lawyers, they say "Sir, they'll throw it out, even though you have it 100 per cent, they'll throw it out".'
During the hour-long discussion, Trump also railed against John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019.
He recently published a best-selling book. The Room Where It Happened, which was critical of the Trump administration.
The President said: 'I will say this, John Bolton was a very stupid person. If I listened to John Bolton, we'd be in World War 5 right now.
'What he did I think was highly illegal, I mean his book is loaded up with confidential and classified information.'
His remarks came days after Bill Barr's Justice Department opened a grand jury probe into whether former National Security Advisor Bolton broke the law by disclosing classified national security information in his tell-all book.
Bolton's book offered his take on the president's interactions with Ukraine, which led to Trump's impeachment in Congress.
Bolton wrote that Democrats in Congress should have probed Trump's interference in DOJ probes to 'give personal favors to dictators he liked.'
The interview was recorded before Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death on Friday, and so host Mark Levin did not ask the president about the Supreme Court decision.
The president said Democrats worried that a vaccine would boost Trump's election chances
He opened his hour-long discussion with questions about coronavirus, as the United State edged towards the grim milestone of 200,000 dead.
Trump said he was confident the virus was going away, and was asked about Democrat attitudes towards a possible vaccine.
'They want to denigrate it, because they started hearing rumors about a vaccine in record time,' said Trump.
'The reason they are doing this is because they think I'll get credit if we get a vaccine before the election.'
Trump said that his government had taken unprecedented steps to work for the speedy development of a vaccine.
'If this was a typical administration we wouldn't have a vaccine for two to three years,' he said. 'But I have changed it, safely. We have many companies doing it, in phase three trial.
'Instead of saying wow, this is great news, they are saying oh, it's coming out too soon, it won't be safe. These are big companies - they won't do that, they'll have tremendous liability.'
Trump said that seniors will be vaccinated first, prioritizing those with heart and respiratory conditions.
Trump said he is hopeful of a vaccine being ready soon and rolled out swiftly
Trump also used his interview to once again mock Joe Biden.
He said the Democrat candidate 'barely knows he's alive', and was incapable of responding to events.
'He's losing the left now because he never mentions the words law and order,' said Trump.
'What we did in Minneapolis was incredible. National Guard - we sent them in - it was over in half an hour. Every one of these cities that has these problems is run by Democrats.'
Trump accused Biden of wanting to turn the United States into Venezuela, and said it would become 'Venezuela on steroids' if the Democrats win.
'And I used to say we’ll be another Venezuela, but I never really...I don’t know that I believed it fully,' he said.
'That wasn’t too long ago. But I do.
'If that kind of stuff gets put in, we will be another Venezuela, except on major steroids, OK?'
The president was asked about his frequently-voiced concerns over mail-in voting.
Trump repeated in his Sunday interview his long-held concerns about mail-in ballots
He warned once again that there will be a 'tremendous disruption' on Election Day, because voters were confused by the options for casting their ballots, and because of the risks of fraud.
'Look, they know it doesn't work because there have been many races using this over the last 14, 15 months - and I heard there was one yesterday or the day before yesterday, the ballots are so mixed up,' he said.
Trump said he was concerned of reports of 'missing' or fraudulent ballots.
'Now they have a new thing where they don't want to verify signatures because that makes it easier, so you don't have to verify a signature,' he said.
The president also accused some Democratic governors of being 'partisan' and 'political hacks' who are trying to sway the election toward his opponent.
'It's a very tough situation,' he said.
'You look at these governors and you look at - I mean, I don't want to insult anybody, but take a look at some of these governors that are in charge of the ballots - beyond partisan - in many cases political hacks.'
Trump added that he has no issue with traditional absentee balloting, in that it is 'solicited,' but that many states like New Jersey and Nevada are mailing ballots out unsolicited.
'When they just dump millions of ballots all over the country, it's not going to work. It's going to be a disaster. And they know it,' he said.
'And we're talking about many millions of ballots. It's going to be mayhem. It's going to be bedlam, and this is what they want.'
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