Trump disputes Gold Star widow's account of phone call

The Hill ^ | October 23, 2017 | Mallory Shelbourne

[EdnaMode]

President Trump early Monday disputed the account of his phone call with a Gold Star widow, who provided a description of the call earlier that morning in an interview.

“I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” Trump wrote on Twitter, referencing one of the Green Berets killed earlier this month in an ambush in Niger.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation! 8:30 AM - Oct 23, 2017

The president’s tweet comes after Myeshia Johnson during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” confirmed Rep. Frederica Wilson’s (D-Fla.) description of the call.

“What he said was — yes the president — said that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways. And I was — it made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. He couldn’t remember my husband’s name,” Johnson told host George Stephanopoulos.

Trump denied Wilson’s description of the call last week, but Johnson on Monday said the congresswoman’s account “was not fabricated.”

“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated, what she said was 100 percent correct,” said Johnson.

“Why would we fabricate something like that?” she later added.

Wilson first provided her description of the call last Tuesday, saying Trump told the widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for."

Trump repeatedly denied Wilson's version of the call, as did White House chief of staff John Kelly during a rare appearance on Thursday at the White House press briefing.

[raiderboy]

Let me just say that the communists are devastated at the “Russian collusion” story now turning on the Clintons treasonous sale of Uranium to Putin who can sell it to Iran and make bombs to kill our people. They are fabricating anything in a desperate attempt to foment revolution but it is so silly that it back fires badly like this fabrication. That Congress woman has become a national laughing stock with her cow face and her clown hat and her lies. In the mean time Trump is becoming ,more and more loved, respected and admired. It totally discombobulates the communists.

[Fantasywriter]

‘What world does a go fund me account have to do with news coverage?’

If you could figure that out, you’d have half the reason the story lives on. The other half has everything to do with the MSM and nothing to do with Trump.

[Moonlighter]

Trump indeed has gotten flustered, repetitive, defensive, and/or off-point when in exchanges resulting in him not always articulating well intentions. And there are dumbasses of all races. Just as there are classless and opportunistic people of all races. That she didn’t publically express any dismay at Trump’s call until Wilson told her she ought and is now doing so via talk show circuit has me suspecting she is at least the latter for reasons other than the honor of her husband.

[miss marmelstein]

I’ve never seen Trump flustered. Seems a lot of people just don’t like the president.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

sends General Kelly out with a trumped up story about a speech that was quite different than described

In the first place, Kelly was speaking about his memory of the event, not reading from a Trump script. In the second place, Wilson made did make very self serving political remarks.

[joesbucks]

Not as he described them. The video pretty much destroyed his narrative of what happened.

Look, that congresswoman is not worth the time of day. Yet Trump won't let her fade into the sunset. She's living rent free in his mind.

[joesbucks]

Then give me the half regarding the go fund me.

[Hepsabeth]

Isn’t it against Florida law to listen-in on a call without telling the calling party?

I doubt it. I don't think it's illegal to use the speaker capability on your phone in any state. It's illegal to record calls in some states, but that's not the same thing.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

The video pretty much destroyed his narrative of what happened.

That is an opinion. What did he say that was false?

[joesbucks]

That her speech was all about her. It wasn’t. She spread the praise pretty thick and wide.

[Fantasywriter]

Without publicity the donations dry up. At the moment the total is ~$700,000.00—well shy of a million. If Trump drops the matter, the widow and Wilson will have to massively up their publicity efforts/Trump attacks, in order to keep the $ coming in. They might even be forced to invent new lies. There’s not much that some people won’t do for a payoff of several hundred thousand dollars.

[joesbucks]

And the publicity would have gone away had he dropped the need to get even.

[2harddrive]

Has Trump now been bitten by the Black Widow???

[joesbucks]

Kelly's comments: I'll end with this: In October -- April, rather, of 2015, I was still on active duty, and I went to the dedication of the new FBI field office in Miami. And it was dedicated to two men who were killed in a firefight in Miami against drug traffickers in 1986 -- a guy by the name of Grogan and Duke. Grogan almost retired, 53 years old; Duke, I think less than a year on the job. Anyways, they got in a gunfight and they were killed. Three other FBI agents were there, were wounded, and now retired. So we go down -- Jim Comey gave an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well. There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were three or four years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there, and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives. And a congresswoman stood up, and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and 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, and we were stunned. Stunned that she had done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. But, you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, okay, fine.

He painted a picture of it being ALL about her and she was taking all the credit. The video, sadly, showed that was not the case.

[2harddrive]

Has Trump now been bitten by the Black Widow???

[Hot Tabasco]

“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated, what she said was 100 percent correct,”

Wilson reminds me of Grima Wormtongue whispering lies into the ear of King Theoden in LOTR.....

What should have been a lifetime remembrance of the President of the United States calling her to console her on the loss of her military husband has now been turned into a spoiled carton of milk........

Unbelievable cruelty on the part of Congresswoman Wormtongue Wilson...............

[Fantasywriter]

Being a Trump hater yourself, you fail to recognize it in others. To you, Trump hate is normal and therefore default.

The Wilson-widow incident has illustrated like no other the degree of virulent, rabid hatred the MSM harbors for Trumo. They pounced on Wilson’s comments like hyenas on a beefsteak. The intensity of their coverage would likely only have been greater had Trump ignored them [bc then the challenge would be to elicit a response].

The MSM sees this as their big chance to destroy Trump. As long as Wilson and the widow will comply, the MSM will keep the story going.

[2harddrive]

Has Trump now been bitten by the Black Widow???

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

You could interpret Kelly's remarks as suggesting that she said nothing about the fbi agents (which would be incorrect), or not. I think he was so disgusted with the first part of her speech that it became the salient point for him.

Sure, she praised other Dem slimers like DWS, but I agree with Kelly that that part of her speech was inappropriate. How much of her speech praised the dead fbi agents and how much was political? I don't know because nbc censored the youtube video of the entire speech.

[joesbucks]

First, I would like to see your psychology degree. And even if you did have one, it probably should be recalled as it's way off.

Second, I won't deny that many in the press relishes pouncing on Trump. Here's the problem. He makes it too easy.

If the media sees this as their big chance to destroy Trump he has given it to them on a silver platter.

This has been a comedy of errors on his and the White House's behalf. First he incorrectly claims that he has placed calls to "I believe, everybody—but certainly I’ll use the word virtually everybody" That's been proven false. Second, the WH after the claim were made sought to back up the claim with an email to the pentagon asking for a list. The list was apparently leaked and about half the families on the list were not contacted. That's far from virtually everybody. Now I will grant he may have contacted virtually everybody of those given to him. But he made the broad as a barn statement and it wasn't true. He then got into the pissing match with the congresswoman. And now has taken on the widow.

For the media, if they are indeed out to destroy hism, it's the gift that keeps on giving.