Soldier’s widow still ‘very angry’
Gold Star wife claims Trump struggled to recall Johnson’s name
The widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson said she was “very angry” about President Trump’s condolence call because he struggled with the soldier’s name, she told Good Morning America on Monday.
“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,” Myeshia 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,” Johnson added. “And that’s what made me upset and cry even more because my husband was an awesome soldier.”
But Trump tweeted Monday that he had a respectful conversation with the widow and spoke the soldier’s name without hesitation.
Johnson was one of four soldiers killed in an ambush by extremists in Niger on Oct. 4. Few details about the attack have been released publicly, which sparked a political firestorm.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., criticized Trump’s condolence call to the widow while the women were headed to Dover Air Force Base to recover the body.
“I heard him say, ‘Well I guess you know he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts,’ ” Wilson told ABC News.
Trump called the congresswoman’s description a “total fabrication.”
John Kelly, a former four-star Marine general who is now White House chief of staff, said Thursday that he was stunned and brokenhearted to hear Wilson’s criticism. Kelly said the soldier’s sacrifice must be kept sacred.
But Johnson said Monday that “what (Wilson) said was 100% correct.”
In a debunked Facebook post, a user posted a photo of the couple as the account’s profile picture and said Wilson heard only part of the conversation.
“I want to set the record straight. I’m getting sick and tired of this so called politician using my husband as a political platform,” the user posing as Myeshia Johnson wrote.
The time-stamp on the post said 3:27 p.m. Tuesday; Trump called at 4:45 p.m.
Johnson confirmed for ABC News that she didn’t write the post and that it was fake, said Michael Del Moro, a producer for Good Morning America.
Johnson also said she wants to know more about how her husband died and why his body wasn’t recovered for 48 hours. She said she wasn’t allowed to look in his casket when it arrived.
“I need to see him so I know it’s my husband,” she said.