Donald Trump denies ‘insensitive’ comments to pregnant widow of dead hero soldier after claims by Democrat politician
DONALD Trump has denied making “insensitive” comments to the pregnant widow of a hero American soldier killed in Niger after the claims by a Democrat politician.
The US president allegedly told the widow of an elite Green Beret special forces trooper who was killed in the African country that he “knew what he signed up for” during a phone call yesterday.
Myeshia Johnson, wife of US Army Sgt La David Johnson, received the five-minute call from Trump, Democratic Representative Frederica Wilson told .
Wilson said of their reaction: “They were astonished.
“It was almost like saying, ‘You signed up to do this, and if you didn’t want to die, shouldn’t have signed up’.”
Wilson said Myeshia Johnson’s only words during the five-minute call were “thank you” at the end of the conversation.
Wilson said: “I wanted to curse him out. I asked the family to give me the phone so that I could, but they wouldn’t.”
Sgt Johnson had been a member of a mentorship program started by the congresswoman.
A White House official later said: “The president’s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private.”
And Trump has since taken to Twitter to brand Wilson’s claims lies, insisting he has proof.
He wrote: “Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!”
Myeshia, who is pregnant with the couple’s third child, collapsed in tears on her husband’s flag-draped coffin at Miami International Airport yesterday.
The hero sergeant and three fellow soldiers were killed by ISIS-affiliated fighters in Niger on October 4.
His body had to be left behind amid the fighting and it took two days before it was recovered, according to US Africa Command.
The US Department of Defence is conducting a review into the ambush.
Nearly two weeks after the deadly attack, the details of the mission remain unclear.
The soldiers’ deaths – and Trump’s lack of public comment for 12 days afterwards – led to a firestorm of criticism when he finally broke his silence to claim other presidents did not call the families of fallen soldiers.
He said: “So the traditional way – if you look at President Obama and other presidents – most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls.”
Former Obama deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco angrily denounced Trump on Twitter as “a deranged animal”.
A version of this story originally appeared on .
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