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Trump accuses Gold Star widow of lying about condolence call

"He couldn’t remember my husband’s name.”

In this Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, frame from video, Myeshia Johnson cries over the casket of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger, upon his body's arrival in Miami. CREDIT: WPLG via AP
In this Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017, frame from video, Myeshia Johnson cries over the casket of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush in Niger, upon his body's arrival in Miami. CREDIT: WPLG via AP

President Trump accused Myeshia Johnson, the widow of fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson, of lying Monday morning after she said Trump couldn’t remember her husband’s name and said her husband “knew what he signed up for.”

“I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” Trump tweeted Monday morning.

But Johnson’s widow, Myeshia, told a different story on Good Morning America.

“What he said was that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway,” Johnson said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos Monday morning. “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.”

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), who was in the car with Johnson when Trump called, first recounted the call last week. Trump has said Wilson fabricated the interaction, and he accused Johnson of the same minutes after her interview aired Monday.

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“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated. What she said was 100 percent correct,” Johnson said Monday. “The phone was on speakerphone. Why would we fabricate something like that?”

Johnson said Monday that what hurt her the most about Trump’s call was that he couldn’t remember her husband’s name.

“If my husband is out there fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name?” she asked. “And that’s what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier.”

Johnson said she did not say anything to Trump on the call, that she only listened, and that she found the call very upsetting.

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Stephanopoulos asked Johnson if she had anything to say to Trump now that some time has passed. After a moment Johnson said, “No. I don’t have nothing to say to him.”

Johnson’s mother has also confirmed Wilson’s account of Trump’s call, though Trump has vowed he has proof Johnson, Johnson’s mother, and Wilson are lying.

Johnson also raised some questions about her husband’s death, saying that the government has not given her details about the circumstances of his death and that they have not allowed her to see her husband’s body.

“Why couldn’t I see my husband? Every time I asked to see my husband they wouldn’t let me. They were telling me that he’s in a severe wrap. Like, I wouldn’t be able to see him. I need to see him so that I will be able to know that’s my husband,” she said. “I don’t know what’s in that box. It could be empty for all I know.”

Johnson is not the only one raising questions about her husband’s death in Niger. On Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he may seek a subpoena to get information about the attack in Niger that left four US soldiers dead, including Johnson, and two others wounded.