Trump defends call to mourners
Says he has proof he spoke with respect to soldier’s family
MIAMI — President Donald Trump emphatically rejected claims Wednesday that he was disrespectful to the grieving family of a slain soldier, as the firestorm he ignited over his assertions of empathy for American service members spread into a third contentious day. “I have proof,” he insisted.
The controversy left chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general whose son was killed in Afghanistan, angry and frustrated at the way the issue has become politicized.
The aunt of an Army sergeant killed in Niger, who raised the soldier as her son, said Wednesday that Trump had shown “disrespect” to the soldier’s loved ones as he telephoned them to extend condolences as they drove to the Miami airport to receive his body. Sgt. La David Johnson was one of four American soldiers killed nearly two weeks ago; Trump called the families on Tuesday.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-fla., who was in the car with Johnson’s family, said the president told the widow that Johnson “knew what he signed up for.” She said the president told them something along the lines of “you know this is possible when you sign up but it still hurts.”
Cowanda Jones-johnson, who raised the soldier from age 5 after his mother died, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the congresswoman’s account was correct.
“Yes, the statement is true,” she said. “I was in the car, and I heard the full conversation.”
Trump started the storm this week when he claimed that he alone among U.S. presidents had called the families of all slain soldiers.
AP found relatives of four soldiers who died overseas during Trump’s presidency who said they never received calls from him. Relatives of three also said they did not get letters. And proof is plentiful that Obama and George W. Bush took painstaking steps to write, call or meet bereaved military families.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said protocol requires that the Pentagon and White House Military Office prepare and confirm an information packet before the president contacts grieving family members, a process that can take weeks. She said Trump has made some form of contact with every family for whom he has received the appropriate information.