Trump denies ever saying he wanted generals like Hitler's or that the Nazi leader 'did some good things'

LAS VEGAS — Former President Donald Trump on Thursday denied ever having said positive things about Hitler during his time in office, including that he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had.”

“I never said that,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question about an article this week in The Atlantic.

“I would never say that,” he added, directly denying the magazine’s reporting.

Trump went on to criticize the article’s author and the publication, calling it “a failing magazine.”

When reached for comment, The Atlantic’s spokesperson Anna Bross said in a statement, “We stand by our reporting, as we have with our prior reporting on former President Trump and his various statements.”

The magazine reported Tuesday that Trump said during a private conversation while he was in office that he needed generals like Adolf Hitler’s. “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders,” he said, The Atlantic reported, citing two people who said they heard him make the remark.

During Hitler’s rule over Nazi Germany, about 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. About 45 million civilians died worldwide during World War II, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, though estimates vary.

The Atlantic also reported that when Trump brought up “German generals” to John Kelly, then his chief of staff, Kelly asked whether he meant “Bismarck’s generals,” referring to the first German chancellor.

“I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals,'” The Atlantic reported Kelly as saying.

Kelly also told The New York Times in a series of recent interviews published online this week that Trump told him that “Hitler did some good things.”

Trump on Thursday denied that he made that comment, as well.

“Never said it,” he told reporters.

Trump’s campaign has criticized Kelly’s remarks. Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesperson, said Kelly “totally beclowned himself” by recounting “debunked stories.”

Trump spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer told The Atlantic in an email that the Hitler remarks were “absolutely false,” according to the publication.

The former president has previously railed against Kelly, saying that during his tenure as chief of staff “he came in with a bang, went out with a whimper.” In August, Trump called Kelly “one of the dumbest people I’ve ever met.”

The Harris campaign released an advertisement Thursday night highlighting Kelly’s comments about his former boss, a day after the vice president cited Trump’s reported remarks in arguing that he is “increasingly unhinged.”

Jillian Frankel reported from Las Vegas, Alex Tabet from Phoenix and Megan Lebowitz from Washington.