Trump digs in over call to soldier's widow: 'I didn't say what the congresswoman said'

Donald Trump dug in on Wednesday as his comments about fallen soldiers spiralled into the second major dispute of his political career with a bereaved military family.

Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump contradicted the accounts of Sgt La David Johnson’s mother and a Florida congresswoman, who were in the car with the soldier’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, when Trump called her. They listened to the conversation on speakerphone.

Both women said the president told Myeshia Johnson that her husband, who was killed in an ambush in Niger two weeks ago, “knew what he signed up for”.

But Trump said: “I didn’t say what that congresswoman said. Didn’t say it at all – she knows it. I had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman.”

Earlier, Trump had claimed in a tweet that he had “proof ” that congresswoman Frederica Wilson’s account was a fabrication.

When asked by reporters about this alleged “proof”, Trump simply said twice: “Let her make her statement again.”

Wilson promptly tweeted to say she stood by her account. She wrote: “I still stand by my account of the call b/t Donald Trump and Myeshia Johnson. That is her name, Mr Trump. Not ‘the woman’ or ‘the wife’.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said later on Wednesday that the call was not recorded but “that there were several people in the room who were on the call including the chief of staff”.

Trump’s remarks came after the soldier’s mother, Cowanda JonesJohnson, spoke to the Associated Press via Facebook message to say she was in the car and heard the phone call. “The statement is true,” she said.

Jones-Johnson added that “not only did he disrespect my son” but Trump was disrespectful to her son’s widow. Jones-Johnson said she did not record the conversation.

Congresswoman Wilson said she travelled with Myeshia Johnson and Cowanda Jones-Johnson on the way to Miami international airport to receive the body of La David Johnson when Trump called, and heard the conversation.

When asked by Miami station WPLG if she indeed heard Trump say he “knew what he signed up for”, Wilson answered: “Yeah, he said that. To me, that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldn’t say that to a grieving widow.” She added: “That’s so insensitive.”

Wilson told CNN: “The president evidently is lying, because what I said is true.”

Escalating the criticism of the president, Wilson said: “He doesn’t even know how to sympathize with people. We’re grieving. This is a grieving community. It’s disgraceful for him to even tweet about this. And as I say, this gentleman has a brain disorder and he needs to be checked out.”

This is not the first time Trump has quarrelled with a grieving military family.

In 2016, Trump attacked the family of Humayun Khan, an army lieutenant who died in Iraq in 2004. Khan’s father Khzir Khan spoke at the Democratic national convention and memorably brandished a pocket constitution while attacking Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.

In response, Trump criticized Khan’s wife Ghazala who was standing silently on stage next to her husband. “If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably … maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News.

Sgt Johnson was one of four servicemen killed in Niger earlier this month. They died when militants thought to be affiliated with the Islamic State ambushed them while they were patrolling in unarmored trucks with Nigerien troops.

Trump has been criticized for not calling right away to relatives of the four killed, and for remaining silent about the deaths for 12 days.

On Monday, Trump ignited the controversy when he said he had written letters to their families that had not yet been mailed. His aides said they had been awaiting information before proceeding.

He then suggested Barack Obama and other previous presidents did not routinely call the families of servicemen and women killed in battle, prompting furious pushback from allies of Obama, who called it a flat lie.

The president doubled down, with a reference to his chief of staff, John Kelly, who lost a son in Afghanistan: “You could ask General Kelly. Did he get a call from Obama?” the president asked.

Trump also boasted: “I think I’ve called every family of someone who’s died.”

But the Associated Press found relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trump’s presidency who said they never received a call or a letter from him, as well as relatives of a third who did not get a call from him.