CALL TO HONOR
Kelly proud of Prez’s talk with G.I.’s widow Rips critics, says keep war dead ‘sacred’
WHITE HOUSE chief of staff John Kelly issued an impassioned defense on his boss’ behalf on Thursday — condemning critics and claiming President Trump did the best he could during a phone call with the widow of a slain Army sergeant.
“If you’re not in the family, if you have never worn the uniform, if you have never been in combat, you can’t imagine how to make that phone call,” the former Marine general said.
A somber Kelly said he was “stunned” and “brokenhearted” by critiques of comments the President made on a call with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four Americans killed two weeks ago in Niger.
Trump reportedly said that Johnson “knew what he signed up for” and seemingly forgot the sergeant’s name during the call.
At turns stern, hot-blooded and emotional, Kelly used the surprise afternoon briefing to scold a stunned White House press corps and describe the deeply personal loss felt when his own son was killed in combat.
“There’s no perfect way to make that phone call,” he said, adding that he initially advised Trump against phoning the four families in the first place.
“He said to me, ‘What do I say?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, there’s nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.’ ”
Kelly was so upset by the imbroglio that he went to Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to walk among the gravestones of fallen service members.
“I went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed,” he said.
Kelly described how he personally directed the President on what to say — and what he was told when his son Robert was killed in combat in Afghanistan — implying that the words of comfort he coached Trump to say were misinterpreted as uncaring.
“In his way (he) tried to express that opinion — he’s a brave man, a fallen hero, he knew what he was getting himself in to because he enlisted,” the four-star general said. “He was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken.
“That was the message. That was the message that was transmitted,” he added.
Kelly recalled what Gen. Joe Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when his son died in 2010.
“He said, Kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1%” of people who choose to defend the country. “He knew what the possibilities were because we’re at war,” he said. “When he died, when the four cases we’re talking about, Niger, my son’s case, Afghanistan, when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends. That’s what the President tried to say to four families the other day.”
On Thursday, the emotions brought forth by the tragedy of losing a child mixed with anger as Kelly admonished the press and Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) over Trump’s call. Wilson, a longtime family friend of the Johnsons, said Trump took an insensitive tone with Johnson’s widow, Myeshia, when he called her on Tuesday. Johnson’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, said Wednesday that Trump called as she and Myeshia drove to Miami International Airport to meet her son’s body. “I was in the car, and I heard the full conversation,” Jones-Johnson told The Associated Press. “Not only did he disrespect my son,” but he disrespected his wife and me and my husband, she said. The President denied Wilson’s claims, calling them “fabricated.” The line, “he knew what he was getting into,” sparked heated criticism after Wilson appeared on several news programs, blasting Trump as indifferent. Kelly said he was frustrated that Wilson, a close friend of the family, listened in on the call, which was on speakerphone.
“I thought at least that was sacred,” he said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Wednesday that several people were in the room when Trump made the call, including Kelly. While Trump has denied making the “knew what he was getting into” comment, Kelly seemed to acknowledge he had said it.
Kelly, on a small tangent, listed other things he feels are no longer held sacred.
“As a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred. Looked upon with great honor,” he said, adding religion and Gold Star families — relatives of fallen soldiers — to the list.
The shift on Gold Star families, he said, happened during the “convention over the summer” — a reference to Trump’s feud with the parents of a slain Muslim soldier who criticized the businessman in a speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Kelly said he was left “brokenhearted” by the criticism of Trump’s outreach to the Johnsons.
Kelly also took repeated swipes at Wilson, referring to her as “selfish” and “an empty barrel” making noise.
“I was stunned” by her comments, Kelly said.
Wilson can’t believe the the attention she has received since the call, telling a TV reporter Thursday, “You mean to tell me that I have become so important that the White House is following me and my words?” she said, laughing.
“This is amazing ... I'm going to have to tell my kids that I'm a rock star now.”
Two days prior, Trump deflected when questioned about his handling of the families killed in Niger — and brought up Kelly’s son.
Trump told a reporter to ask Kelly if thenPresident Barack Obama called him when his son was killed, placing his chief of staff’s searing loss in the heart of a very public political fight.
Kelly, who began his dramatic remarks by recounting in detail what happens after a soldier is killed in overseas combat, said Thursday he told Trump he did not receive a call from Obama.
“That is not a criticism,” Kelly said, adding, with tears welling in his eyes, that phone calls from members of his son’s unit were more important.