Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson (Fla.) told CNN host Don Lemon on Tuesday that she wanted to curse out President Donald Trump over his phone call to the widow of a slain soldier.
Trump called Sgt. La David T. Johnson's widow, Myeshia, on Tuesday as she was traveling with Wilson and others to meet the body of her slain husband at a ceremonial homecoming at Miami International Airport. He was killed on Oct. 4 during a joint mission with the Niger military in west Africa where he and three other men were ambushed.
"He said, 'But you know he must've known what he signed up for,'" the Democrat recounted Trump saying.
"Everyone knows when you go to war you could possibly not come back alive but you don't remind a grieving widow of that," Wilson said. "That's so insensitive."
Lemon played footage of the widow standing by her late husband's casket, which was draped in the American flag, and noted that she has a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, with one child on the way.
"There's no reason for the president to be so insensitive. Not only to the family of this soldier but the impervious rhetoric, you know, it's disrespectful to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom and our community is livid because this was our hero," Wilson said. "We don't have many heroes in our young men in Miami-Dade County, but he was a hero for us."
Lemon asked Wilson what her reaction was to Trump's conversation with Johnson.
"I asked them to give me the phone because I wanted to speak with him and I was going to curse him out. That was my reaction at that time. I was livid, but they would not give me the phone," Wilson said.
Trump sent out a tweet on Wednesday morning pushing back against Wilson's claim, saying that she "totally fabricated" what he said.
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017