Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump sent a $25,000 personal check to the family of a fallen soldier the same day that The Washington Post reported that he had promised the soldier's father a personal donation during a June condolence call but never followed through. 
 
 A White House official confirms to CNN that the President sent a personal check Wednesday to the family of Army Cpl. Dillon Baldridge Wednesday. Baldridge, 22, was killed in June by an Afghan police officer 
 
 "The check has been sent," Lindsay Walters, White House spokeswoman, told CNN on Wednesday. "It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda." 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN that it was a personal check from Trump. 
 
 The timing of Trump's donation raised questions because the Post reported Wednesday that White House official initially declined to discuss the events in detail but later told them the check had been sent. 
 
 "'I'm going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,' and I was just floored," Baldridge told the Post of his conversation with Trump. "I could not believe he was saying that, and I wish I had it recorded because the man did say this. He said, 'No other president has ever done something like this,' but he said, 'I'm going to do it. " 
 
 A White House spokesperson, speaking on background, said the check has been "in the pipeline" since the President's conversation with the father. 
 
 "The President has personally followed up several times to ensure that the check was being sent. As stated earlier the check has been sent," the spokesperson said. 
 
 When asked why it took so long for the funds to be sent, the spokesperson added: "There is a substantial process that can involve multiple agencies anytime the President interacts with the public, especially when transmitting personal funds. In this situation there were other agencies involved." 
 
 The spokesperson did not say which agencies were involved or elaborate on the process. 
 
 Knowledge of Trump's pledge to Baldridge comes amid the ongoing flap about how presidents handle condolence calls to families of those killed in action and Trump's feud with a Democratic congresswoman over his call with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed earlier this month in Niger. 
 
 Trump called Myeshia Johnson on Tuesday and, according to Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson, the President said that the serviceman killed "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt." 
 
 Trump denied that he ever said that. 
 
 "I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't say it at all," Trump told reporters during a Wednesday meeting on tax reform in the Cabinet Room. "She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said." 
 
 At the same time, the White House is dealing with Trump stating that President Barack Obama didn't call all the families those killed during his presidency and suggesting that reporters ask his chief of staff, retired Gen. John Kelly, whether Obama called him after his son died in Afghanistan. 
 
 Kelly's son Robert died when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan in 2010. Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, was a lieutenant general at the time. ||||| (CNN) Three US soldiers were killed and another wounded during a joint US-Afghan military operation Saturday in Nangarhar province, US officials told CNN. 
 
 The Pentagon named the three soldiers Monday as Sgt. Eric M. Houck, 25, of Baltimore; Sgt. William M. Bays, 29, of Barstow, California; and Cpl. Dillon C. Baldridge, 22, of Youngsville, North Carolina. 
 
 On Monday evening Vice President Pence was at Dover Air Force Base to attend the dignified transfer of the three soldiers. 
 
 Pence stood with his hand over his heart as the flag draped caskets were brought off the plane. 
 
 An American official said the soldiers were shot in an apparent insider attack, also known as a " green-on-blue " incident because of the color-coding system used by NATO. During such assaults, members of the Afghan security forces are known to target US and other NATO soldiers. 
 
 The shooter in Saturday's incident was an Afghan army commando, Nangarhar provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said. He said the assailant was killed by Afghan forces. 
 
 Three US troops were killed Saturday in Achin District. 
 
 The shootings occurred in the Achin District, where US and Afghan troops have been carrying out a monthslong offensive against a local affiliate of ISIS, officials said. 
 
 Taliban claim responsibility 
 
 Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the militants claimed responsibility for the attack. 
 
 "A Mujahid (freedom fighter) infiltrator of the Islamic Emirate who had enrolled himself in the Kabul government's army attacked American soldiers in Lata Band area of Achin District in Nangarhar province today in the afternoon," said a written statement in Pashto obtained by CNN. "The American invaders were there to support their Afghan slaves." 
 
 Cpl. Dillon C. Baldridge 
 
 Sgt. William M. Bays 
 
 Sgt. Eric M. Houck 
 
 US President Donald Trump was briefed on the shootings, and Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday that details of the attack would be forthcoming. 
 
 "When heroes fall, Americans grieve," Pence said Saturday. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of these American heroes." 
 
 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged the deaths in his Monday briefing. 
 
 "The incident is currently under investigation, but our thoughts and our prayers are with the families of these American heroes who lost their lives in this tragic event," Spicer said. 
 
 A US military spokesman in Afghanistan said the military "will release more information when appropriate." 
 
 Soldiers' families mourn 
 
 Houck had two children, 5 and 3, and was due to come home next month, his father, Mike, told CNN affiliate WBAL 
 
 "He is a hero," Mike Houck told the station. 
 
 "You realize that important person you love is never coming back into your life," he added. "He'll always be in my heart. He'll always be in my thoughts." 
 
 Baldridge was also supposed to return home this summer. Family members told CNN affiliate WRAL he went to Afghanistan in October and was due back in August. 
 
 Russell Holloman, the principal of Franklinton High School, said Baldridge, who graduated in 2012, was a kindhearted and giving person. 
 
 "He made an early commitment to the military during his high school career and maintained that focus and selfless dedication after graduation," Holloman said in a statement. "Our community has truly lost a hero." 
 
 Afghan police killed in another incident 
 
 In Kabul, meanwhile, the US military command said an unspecified number of Afghan police were killed and wounded in a "friendly fire" incident during a joint Afghan-US operation overnight Saturday. 
 
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 US Forces Afghanistan said members of the Afghan Border Police in Helmand province were killed and wounded during an operation involving US and Afghan defense and security forces. 
 
 The deaths occurred when a US aircraft fired on Afghan police, said Omar Zawak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand. 
 
 US Forces Afghanistan was investigating the incident. 
 
 Two US service members killed in April 
 
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 US and coalition casualties in Afghanistan have become rarer in recent years, falling dramatically since the Afghan government assumed responsibility for combat operations in 2014. 
 
 But in late April, two US service members were killed and another wounded while conducting a joint raid in the Achin District, a Pentagon spokesman said. The operation was targeting ISIS-K, the terrorist group's Afghanistan affiliate. 
 
 Achin District is the primary base of operations for ISIS in Afghanistan and has been the site of multiple joint US-Afghan counterterrorism missions. A US Army Special Forces soldier was killed fighting the terrorist group there in early April. 
 
 The district is also where the United States dropped one of its most powerful bombs , killing close to 100 ISIS fighters, according to Afghan officials. 
 
 Beginning in 2016, Afghan security forces backed by US military advisers launched a major offensive against ISIS. Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of US Forces Afghanistan, has said the terrorist group has lost about half its fighters and been ejected from two-thirds of its territory. 
 
 The latest counter-ISIS push began in March of this year. 
 
 US officials estimate ISIS has 600 to 800 fighters in the country, mostly former members of other regional terrorist groups, such as the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. ISIS is believed to be behind a series of terrorist attacks, including the recent fatal attack on a hospital in Kabul. 
 
 There are about 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan. The US counterterrorism mission is separate from the NATO-led effort to train, advise and assist the Afghan army and police force in the fight against the Taliban.
– The father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan in June says he was "floored" when President Trump promised to write him a check for $25,000—but it never arrived. Chris Baldridge tells the Washington Post that when Trump called a few weeks after his son, Army Sgt. Dillon Baldridge was killed, he told the president that he and his wife were struggling to deal with the fact that their son and two others were killed by a rogue Afghan police officer instead of in battle. Baldridge, a construction worker in North Carolina, says Trump offered him $25,000 after he complained that his son's $100,000 death benefit would go to his ex-wife instead of his parents, even though he can "barely rub two nickels" together. "He said, 'I'm going to write you a check out of my personal account for $25,000,' and I was just floored," Baldridge says. "He said, 'No other president has ever done something like this.'" But no check arrived in the following months, and Baldridge says Trump also failed to follow through on a promise to have his staff set up an online fundraiser. CNN reports that when asked about Baldridge's case Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the check "has been sent." "It's disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the president, and using it to advance the media's biased agenda," she said. (Trump is feuding with another Gold Star family.)