Trump slammed over ‘disrespectful’ call to widow
Donald Trump told the widow of a dead U.S. soldier “he knew what he was signing up for,” it was claimed Wednesday, as an attempted condolence backfired spectacularly.
The U.S. president was said to have made the comment when calling the wife of La David Johnson, a 25-yearold killed recently in Niger.
Two people listening in on the call — including Johnson’s mother — confirmed he made the remark and called it “disrespectful.” However Trump denied the claim and said he had “proof” the words had not been spoken, implying a recording existed.
The row comes after Trump was criticized for the way in which he consoles relatives of American war dead.
The trigger had been the killing of four U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Niger, which the president did not publicly acknowledge for 12 days.
In an effort to defuse the issue, Trump called Johnson’s widow Myeshia, who answered while being driven to the airport where her husband’s body was being returned.
Listening in on the call, which was put on speaker phone, was Frederica Wilson, a Democratic congresswoman, as well as other family members.
Wilson later claimed Trump had said of the fallen soldier: “He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.”
Wilson said Johnson’s widow was “crying the whole time,” adding: “When she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’ ” The comment triggered a furious back and forth as the president denied the comments were made while others corroborated the claims.
Trump tweeted: “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. Did not say what the congresswoman said.”
However, Wilson responded: “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.’ ”