The mother of the Green Beret killed in Africa said President Trump disrespected her son and family when the commander-in-chief called the soldier’s widow and said her husband “knew what he signed up for,” according to a report Wednesday.
“President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Cowanda Jones-Johnson told the Washington Post.
She commented on the controversy that exploded after Rep. Frederica Wilson said she was in the car with the widow of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson when Trump called and told her that the soldier “knew what he signed up for … but when it happens, it hurts anyway.”
Wilson, a Florida Democrat, said Myeshia Johnson began sobbing during the phone call as the family headed to Miami International Airport on Tuesday afternoon to meet the soldier’s casket.
In a tweet Wednesday, Trump blasted Wilson for making up the story and said he has “proof.”
“Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!” Trump wrote on the social messaging site.
Asked whether Wilson’s account of the conversation between Trump and the widow was accurate, she said, “Yes,” the newspaper reported.
Johnson, 25, and three other Green Berets were killed Oct. 4 in Niger during an ambush carried out by militants believe linked to the Islamic State.
Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Sgt. Bryan Black and Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson were also killed.
The White House on Tuesday said the president’s phone calls to the families of “American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private.”