Widow discusses Trump phone call
WASHINGTON — A fallen soldier’s widow joined the dispute with President Donald Trump on Monday over his response to her husband’s death, saying his failure to remember the soldier’s name in last week’s condolence call “made me cry.”
He responded that the call was “very respectful” and her accusation about her husband’s name simply wasn’t true.
The president spoke in public at two events during the day — including his awarding of the military Medal of Honor to a Vietnam-era Army medic — and made no mention of the case of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four soldiers killed Oct. 4 in a firefight with militants tied to the Islamic State group in Niger.
Myeshia Johnson, the sergeant’s widow, also complained that she had not been able to see her husband’s body.
“I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband,” she said. “I don’t know nothing, they won’t show me a finger, a hand.”
A Pentagon spokeswoman said the military often may make a recommendation on viewing but that soldiers’ bodies are prepared and turned over to the family and its funeral director. The final decision on viewing is up to them, said spokeswoman Laura Ochoa.
Myeshia Johnson spoke for the first time in the dispute on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
In the interview, she supported statements last week by Rep. Frederica Wilson, who was in the car with the widow and other relatives when Trump phoned.
“Yes, the president said that ‘he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway.’ And it made me cry ‘cause I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said he couldn’t remember my husband’s name,” Johnson said.
“I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can’t you remember his name.”
Looking for answers
At the Pentagon, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said an investigation has still to resolve questions about the Oct. 4 firefight.
They include whether the U.S. had adequate intelligence and equipment for its operation, whether there was a planning failure and why it took two days to recover Johnson’s body.
The continuing dispute drew criticism from McCain, who spent more than five years in a Vietnamese prison.
He said on “The View” Monday: “We should not be fighting about a brave American who lost his life.”
Besides Johnson’s family, members of Congress are demanding answers. Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., threatened a subpoena to accelerate the flow of information.