Is Rep. Frederica Wilson lying about President Trump’s call to Sgt. La David T. Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson? Wilson said that, on the call, Trump told Johnson her husband “knew what he signed up for” before he was killed on a patrol in Niger.
Trump has said, unequivocally, that Wilson is lying — he did not say that, he claims.
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017
The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
So either Rep. Wilson or President Trump is lying.
Friday morning on Fox and Friends, Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, revealed there is a way to settle this definitively. There is, according to Lara Trump, a transcript of the conversation. Lara Trump, who does not work in the White House (but does work for Trump’s campaign), has read them.
“You read the transcripts, what were your thoughts?” Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt asks Lara Trump.
Lara Trump replies with her interpretation of the call having “read exactly what he said.”
Oddly, Lara Trump’s description of the call actually appears consistent with Wilson’s account. Lara Trump, paraphrasing the conversation, says her father-in-law told Johnson “your husband went in to battle, you know, knowing that he could be injured, knowing that he could be killed.”
This tracks with what Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly, who listened to the call from the White House, said yesterday. Kelly said Trump told Johnson her husband “knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted.” Again, this appears to confirm Wilson’s account.
While the White House — along with Lara and Eric Trump — are blaming Wilson for creating the controversy, her views are shared by Sgt. Johnson’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson. “President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Cowanda Jones-Johnson told the Washington Post, adding that Wilson’s account of the phone call was accurate.
If the transcript, as Lara Trump suggests, somehow vindicates Trump, why hasn’t the White House released it?
It’s also unclear why Lara Trump would have access to official White House transcripts of the call while the general public does not. Eric Trump, who frequently appears as a White House surrogate, is running the Trump Organization and is not supposed to be involved in his father’s political activities. It is unclear if he also read the transcript.
UPDATE (2:40 p.m.): White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders denied there is a transcript of the call. She referred further questions to Lara Trump and the Trump campaign.