President Trump shot down claims from the widow of a soldier killed in Africa that he didn’t know her husband’s name when he made a “respectful” condolence call to her last week.
“I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!,” .
His posting came just minutes after Myeisha Johnson that the president couldn’t remember the name of her husband, Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed Oct. 4 along with three other soldiers in an ambush in Niger.
“It made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. He couldn’t remember my husband’s name,” Johnson said during the interview. “The only way he remembered my husband’s name was because he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him — that’s when he actually said ‘La David.'”
“I heard him stumbling trying to remember my husband’s name,” Johnson continued. “And that’s what hurt me the most. Because if my husband is out fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name? And that’s what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier.”
The pꦇresident called Johnson as she was on the way to Miami International Airport last Tuesday to meet the casket of her husband.
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), a family friend who was riding with Johnson, said Trump’s comments that the widow’s husband “knew what he was getting into” were insensitive and embroiled the W📖hite House in a firestorm of controversy.
During the interview, Johnson said Wilson’s version was “100 percent correct.”
“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated. Whatever she said was 100 percent correct,” she said.
“The phone was on speakerphone. Why would we fabricate anything like that?”