Kelly on defense over congresswoman’s claims
A video released Friday contradicts Chief of Staff John Kelly’s claims about a Florida congresswoman, continuing controversy related to Trump’s call to a soldier’s widow.
WASHINGTON — A video released Friday shows White House chief of staff John Kelly was incorrect when he accused a Democratic congresswoman from Miami of bragging about securing money for her district during a 2015 ceremony devoted to a pair of slain FBI agents.
The video of the April 15, 2015, remarks by Rep. Frederica Wilson shows she praised the agents at the center of the dedication ceremony for the new FBI field office in Miramar. And while she touted her role in passing a bill to name the building after agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove during a broader tribute to the two men, the video posted Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel shows she never took credit for the tax dollars that went into the project — as Kelly had stated Thursday in the White House briefing room, calling her an “empty barrel” making noise amid a solemn ceremony for the heroes.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not dispute Kelly’s inaccurate account of Wilson’s speech on Friday.
“Gen. Kelly said he was ‘stunned’ that Rep. Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress, including lobbying former President Obama on legislation,” Huckabee Sanders said. “As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you’re able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes about yourself, you’re an empty barrel.”
The footage posted by the Sun Sentinel begins mid-sentence for Wilson, who is recognizing fellow members of Congress.
In her remarks, Wilson did call passing her bill so quickly “a miracle, to say the least,” thanks to her and colleagues being in “attack mode.” But she also spent significant time praising the agents who Kelly said on Thursday had deserved the attention that day.
“Today it is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the streets of South Florida and place their names and pictures high where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, sacrifice for our nation,” she said in the video.
“It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters FBI. Because Special Agent Grogan and Dove embody the sacred motto of which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity. Bravery. And integrity.
“God bless you,” she said at the close, drawing a standing ovation. “God bless the FBI. And God bless America.”
Kelly launched a highly specific attack on Wilson without mentioning her by name during a 20-minute speech at the White House on Thursday, accusing the Miami Gardens Democrat of politicizing the death of a soldier and taking undue credit for the FBI building during a solemn ceremony.
“A congresswoman stood up, and in a long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million, to build the building, and she sat down,” Kelly told reporters.