President Donald Trump on Monday said he had a “very respectful” phone conversation with the widow of a recently fallen U.S. soldier after the soldier’s widow said he failed to remember her husband’s name in the condolence call.
Myeshia Johnson, who was married to Army Sgt. La David Johnson, told Good Morning America on Monday that Trump, in a condolence call, said her husband “knew what he signed up for.” The widow also said Trump was “stumbling on trying to remember” her husband’s name, which made her “cry even more.”
Trump denied the second claim in a tweet. “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” the president wrote.
La David Johnson, and three other U.S. soldiers, were killed in combat in Niger on Oct. 4 after ISIS-linked militants attacked them, according to the Associated Press.
In a call that was put on speakerphone, Trump spoke to Myeshia Johnson and said the fallen soldier “knew what he signed up for,” according to Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who first told reporters about what was said on the condolence call.
Trump has disputed the congresswoman’s claim, which Myeshia Johnson backed up during Monday’s interview.
“It made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said he couldn’t remember my husband’s name,” she said. “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.”
La David Johnson, 25, and Myeshia Johnson were high school sweethearts with a baby on the way in January. “I’m going to tell her how awesome her dad was and how a great father he was and how he died as a hero,” Myeshia Johnson said Monday.
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