Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, whom Donald Trump reportedly said in a call last week “knew what he signed up for,” has officially broken her silence. She confirmed Rep. Frederica Wilson’s version of the call, which has embroiled the congresswoman in one of Trump’s bouts of public name-calling (as with the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulín Cruz, and Hillary Clinton, among others). Trump continues to refute both Rep. Wilson’s and Myeshia Johnson’s accounts.
Appearing on Good Morning America on Monday, Johnson said Trump had trouble remembering her husband’s name during the condolence call, and reportedly referred to him as “your guy” instead. “If my husband is out here fighting for our country, and he risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name?” she told George Stephanopoulos. Trump’s call, she further stated, had the opposite of its intended effect, and made her feel “very upset and hurt; it made me cry even worse.” She was insulted and angered, she said, “at the tone of his voice.” However, she has nothing to say to Trump now that the controversy has become a headline. Johnson was concerned with her husband’s legacy, and making sure the public remembers “he died as a hero.”
It’s been 19 days since Sgt. Johnson was killed in an ambush in Niger on October 4, and his wife also told Stephanopoulos that she has many unanswered questions about his death, including why she has yet to see his body. Donald Trump has already tweeted that he had a “very nice” conversation with Johnson, and that Rep. Wilson had made up the story, though it was later somewhat confirmed by John Kelly, White House chief of staff, who, according to press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, thought the president “did the best job he could,” given the situation. Kelly also mentioned that presidents often do not call, but write a letter instead.
Trump tweeted again this morning that he “had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” His refusal to apologize to the beleaguered widow or to Rep. Wilson, who has known the Johnsons for many years, infers that it’s the women involved who are lying, fitting into a long-standing pattern of the president’s. Women from the Congressional Black Caucus have written a letter demanding an apology from John Kelly for attacks on Rep. Wilson’s character: “We, the women of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly stand with Congresswoman Wilson and demand that General Kelly apologize to her without delay and take responsibility for his reckless and false statements.”
