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# Chief of Staff John Kelly Defends President Trump's Call to Widow and Denounces Congresswoman

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BrTzIfdP.m3u8" -->
## Video: Chief of Staff John Kelly Defends President Trump's Call to Widow and Denounces Congresswoman

[Watch (HLS stream): Chief of Staff John Kelly Defends President Trump's Call to Widow and Denounces Congresswoman](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BrTzIfdP.m3u8) (1:34)

![Chief of Staff John Kelly Defends President Trump's Call to Widow and Denounces Congresswoman](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BrTzIfdP/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2017-10-19. White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an extraordinary denunciation of a Democratic congresswoman Thursday, accusing her of politicizing what he called a "sacred" presidential effort to console the grieving loved ones of a slain soldier._


---

Jul 27, 2023 10:49 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Congresswoman Maxine Waters Has A Message For President Trump: "Please Resign" ](/video/ubRpPVtH/)

### Congresswoman Maxine Waters Has A Message For President Trump: "Please Resign"

[Trump Tells Widow of Fallen Soldier He 'Knew What He Signed Up For,' Congresswoman Says](/video/O7W6omUV/)

### Trump Tells Widow of Fallen Soldier He 'Knew What He Signed Up For,' Congresswoman Says

[White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Insists He Isn't Quitting or Getting Fired](/video/Huzg6FGE/)

### White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Insists He Isn't Quitting or Getting Fired

---


## Transcript

If you elect a call of family like this it is about the most difficult thing you could imagine. There's no perfect way to make that phone call. When I took this job, and talked to President Trump about how to do it, my first recommendation was, he not do it. because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. He asked me about previous presidents and I said I can tell you that President Obama was my commander in chief when I was on active duty did not call my family. That was not a criticism That was just to simply say I don't believe President Obama called. That's not a negative thing.

So he called four people the other day and expressed his condolences in the best way that he could. I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and broken hearted. At what I saw or remembered Congress doing. Remember Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President of the United States to a young wife. And in his way, tried to express that opinion, that he's a brave man A fallen hero, he knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted. There's no reason to enlist, he enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken.

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