After White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Thursday afternoon offered a lengthy defense and explanation of President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of a fallen soldier, Trump yet again accused a Democratic congresswoman of lying about how the call went.
Kelly’s defense of Trump essentially confirmed Rep. Frederica Wilson’s (D-FL) account of the President’s comments to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in Niger earlier this month.
Wilson said that Trump told Johnson that her husband “knew what he was signing up for,” and Kelly told reporters that he told Trump to say something along those lines. Kelly’s lengthy explanation at the White House press briefing was an apparent attempt to end the feud between Trump and Wilson.
However, Trump disregarded Kelly’s comments and attacked Wilson on Twitter Thursday night:
The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
Trump accused Wilson of “secretly” listening to the phone call. However Johnson likely knew that the congresswoman could hear the conversation, since the phone was on speaker while they were in a car.
The President and Wilson have been engaged in a back and forth since Wilson revealed Trump’s comments to Johnson earlier this week. Trump has repeatedly accused the congresswoman of lying, even though other people present for the call confirmed her account of Trump’s remarks.
Asked about Trump’s tweet on CNN Friday morning, Wilson said that she is focused on her constituents and what happened when Sgt. La David Johnson and other U.S. soldiers were ambushed by Islamic State-linked fighters in Niger.
