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Trump Rejects Gold Star Widow's Account That He Didn't Remember Her Husband's Name

Donald Trump
Getty Images
October 23, 2017

Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, said Monday on "Good Morning America" that President Donald Trump's condolence call "made me cry even worse," leading Trump to respond on Twitter that he had a "very respectful conversation."

Johnson recalled that the president said her husband "'knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways.' And it made me cry. I was very angry at the tone of his voice, and how he said it. He couldn't remember my husband's name."

"I didn't say anything," Johnson said. "I just listened."

Trump was quick to reject the widow's account of the call, tweeting later Monday morning he spoke the man's name from the beginning.

"I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!" he wrote.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922440008971292672

Myeshia Johnson expressed dissatisfaction with the facts surrounding her husband's death.

"I want to know why it took them 48 hours to find my husband. Why couldn't I see my husband: Every time I asked to see my husband they wouldn't let me," she said.

Johnson said that her husband was in Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson's (Fla.) 5000 Role Models program, and that's why she's "well-connected with us. She's been in our family since we were kids." Wilson touched off the firestorm last week when she revealed details of the phone call to the media and said Trump had upset Johnson.

"Whatever Ms. Wilson said wasn't fabricated. What she said was 100 percent correct ... Why would we fabricate something like that?" she said.

Johnson said she didn't have anything to say to the president, and said she will tell her new daughter how her husband "died as a hero."

Published under: Donald Trump