Biden speaks with families of troops killed in Jordan, will attend dignified transfer

President Biden spoke Tuesday with the families of the three Army soldiers who were killed in a suicide drone attack in Jordan and said he plans to travel to Dover, Del., for Friday’s dignified transfer of their remains.

“He was grateful for their time. He expressed to them how proud we all are of their service, how we mourn and feel sorrow over their loss,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

“[He] made sure that those families knew that not only was that service and sacrifice going to be honored and respected but that they would continue to get the support that they need as they work through what no family wants to go through.”

During that conversation, Kirby said, Biden “gauged” the families’ feelings about him going to the dignified transfer on Friday.

“All of them supported his presence there and so the president will be going to the dignified transfer on Friday,” he said.

The Pentagon on Monday identified the soldiers, who all served in the Army Reserve and were assigned to Georgia’s Fort Moore. The soldiers are Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga.

Biden on Sunday extended his condolences to the family and said in a statement soldiers “embodied the very best of our nation” and “were patriots in the highest sense.”

Earlier Tuesday, Biden said he has decided how to respond to the deadly attack in Jordan while not specifying what the U.S. will do. He stressed he was not seeking a wider war in the Middle East.