President Donald Trump today contradicted the account of a fallen soldier’s widow, arguing that he said her husband’s name “without hesitation” when he called to offer condolences Tuesday.
According to Myeshia Johnson, Trump struggled to remember the name of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four U.S. service members killed in Niger earlier this month.
“I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most,” Johnson said on “Good Morning America” today of her phone call with the president.
Johnson added, “The only way he remembered my husband’s name is because he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him and that’s when he actually said La David.”
Trump responded later today by tweeting that he had said Sgt. Johnson’s name “from [the] beginning.”
Since last week, Trump has exchanged in a war of words with Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., over his handling of his phone call to Johnson. Wilson had accompanied the Johnson family as they were on their way to Dover Air Force Base for a dignified transfer of Sgt. Johnson’s remains.
Wilson, who heard the call on speaker, said Trump told Johnson her husband “knew what he signed up for. But I guess it still hurt.”
Trump denied he did so and called Wilson’s account a “fabrication.”
On “Good Morning America” today, Johnson confirmed the details of her call with the president and said Wilson was “100 percent correct.”
