Trump: Pol ‘totally fabricated’ story of call to Gold Star family
President Trump denied a Florida congresswoman’s claims that he told the widow of a solider killed in Africa that her husband “knew what he signed up for” and claimed he would show proof if the lawmaker made the comment again.
“I didn’t say what that congresswoman said – and she knows it – and she now is not saying it,” Trump said during a meeting in the White House on Wednesday. “I’d like her to make the statement again. Because I did not say what she said.”
Trump went on to say he had a “very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman,” then added, “Did not say what the congresswoman said.”
Asked by reporters what proof he has that he didn’t make the remarks, Trump replied, “Let her make that statement again and then you’ll find out.”
Rep. Frederica Wilson said she was in the car with the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson​ ​when Trump called on Tuesday and told her that ​the soldier ​”knew what he signed up for … but when it happens, it hurts anyway.”
She also said Trump didn’t know the sergeant’s name.
Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said ​Myeshia Johnson​ began sobbing during the five-minute phone call as the family headed to Miami International Airport on Tuesday afternoon to meet the soldier’s casket.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Trump blasted Wilson for making up the story and said he has “proof.”
“Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!,” Trump wrote on the social messaging sit​e.
But the soldier’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Washington Post that she was also in the car and the president’s comments “did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband.”
J​ohnson, 25, and three other Green Berets were killed Oct. 4 in Niger during an ambush carried out by militants believe linked to the Islamic State.
Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Sgt. Bryan Black, and Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson were also killed.
The White House on Tuesday said the president’s phone calls to the families of “American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private.”