--- title: Trump Denies Forgetting Sgt. La David Johnson’s Name description: President Trump said he had a “very respectful” phone call with the widow of a fallen U.S. soldier after she spoke out canonical: https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-23T14:08:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:20:02.083Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Denies Forgetting Slain Soldier’s Name While Consoling Widow og:description: Trump says he "spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation" og:url: https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Denies Forgetting Slain Soldier’s Name While Consoling Widow twitter:description: Trump says he "spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘I Had a Very Respectful Conversation.’ President Trump Denies Forgetting Slain Soldier’s Name While Consoling Widow  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 23, 2017 2:08 PM UTC  President Donald Trump President Donald TrumpMatt Cardy—PA Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 23, 2017 2:08 PM UTC 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](http://time.com/4993045/myeshia-johnson-donald-trump-frederica-wilson/) in the condolence call. Myeshia Johnson, who was married to Army Sgt. La David Johnson, told [_Good Morning America_](http://abcnews.go.com/US/transcript-widow-fallen-soldier-la-david-johnson-speaks/story?id=50655055) 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](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922440008971292672?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F%3Fp%3D4993045). > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922440008971292672) 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/"},"headline":"‘I Had a Very Respectful Conversation.’ President Trump Denies Forgetting Slain Soldier’s Name While Consoling Widow","datePublished":"2017-10-23T14:08:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:20:02.083Z","description":"Trump says he \"spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation\"","url":"https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/","keywords":["Military","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdd6c19e0a11193a9/6988e2e3929faddcb2bee2c8/donald-trump-tweet.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Matt Cardy—PA Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4993124/trump-denies-forgetting-fallen-soldier-name/","name":"‘I Had a Very Respectful Conversation.’ President Trump Denies Forgetting Slain Soldier’s Name While Consoling Widow"}}]}] ```