Donald Trump has claimed American soldiers are "in love" with him in the wake of allegations that he described dead troops "losers" and "suckers".
The US president continues to fight allegations that he made the offensive comments about fallen US service personnel, which were first reported by The Atlantic.
The magazine's story, published on September 3, alleged that Mr Trump had branded First World War dead at an American military cemetery in France “losers” and “suckers” in 2018.
The White House launched a concerted effort to rubbish the claims, which have since been reported by other outlets including Fox News.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr Trump repeated his earlier claim that the story was a “hoax”, adding: “I’m not saying the military’s in love with me. The soldiers are.”
However, he added: “The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”
In the Atlantic's article, defence officials said Mr Trump made the disparaging comments about fallen US troops as he cancelled visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of November 10 2018.
Staffers from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Mr Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there.
Mr Trump responded by saying he did not want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers”, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to discuss it publicly.
The White House blamed the cancelled visit on poor weather at the time.
In another conversation on the trip, The Atlantic reported, Mr Trump referred to the 1,800 Marines who died in the First World War battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
Mr Trump, who travelled to Pennsylvania on Thursday, told reporters after he returned to Washington that The Atlantic report was “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine”.
“I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes,” Mr Trump told the reporters, gathered on the tarmac in the dark.
“There is nobody that respects them more.
“No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?”
The furore over Mr Trump’s alleged comments comes after his relationship with military brass has become increasingly strained in recent weeks since he threatened this summer to use the Insurrection Act to provide troops for law enforcement during the protests after George Floyd’s death.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has expressed regret for walking with Mr Trump through Lafayette Square in what turned out to be a photo op during the protests.