NEW YORK (AP) — The Boy Scouts are denying a claim by President Donald Trump that the head of the youth organization called the president to praise his politically aggressive speech to the Scouts' national jamboree.
Trump told The Wall Street Journal, "I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful."
On Wednesday, the Scouts responded, "We are unaware of any such call." Neither of the organization's two top leaders — President Randall Stephenson and Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh — had placed such a call, the Scouts said.
Surbaugh apologized last week to members of the scouting community who were offended by the political rhetoric in Trump's July 24 speech in West Virginia.