Congresswoman: Trump's comments to soldier's widow made her cry

Myeshia Johnson at her husband&#039;s casket.

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/CNN)

published 18 October 2017

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) is revealing more about the conversation President Trump had with the widow of La David Johnson Tuesday afternoon, saying he made Myeshia Johnson cry. Had an Army sergeant not been holding the phone, Wilson said, she would have grabbed it and "cursed him out."

Army Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, was killed in Niger during an ambush earlier this month, along with three other soldiers. Wilson knew Johnson through a mentorship program she runs, and was in a limo with his pregnant widow and other relatives when Trump called. The phone was put on speaker, so everyone in the limo could hear what was being said, she told CNN, and while speaking to Myeshia Johnson, Trump said her husband "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts." Wilson said the mood in the limo was already solemn, as the family had just been told they couldn't have an open casket at Johnson's funeral. That information gave Myeshia Johnson "all kinds of nightmares about how his body must look now, his face must look, and that is what the president of the United States says to her?" Wilson said.

Trump's remarks were "off the cuff," Wilson told The Washington Post, and he kept "saying the same thing over and over." Myeshia Johnson was "just crying," she added, and "the only thing she said when it was time to hang up was 'thank you' and 'goodbye.'" In his community, La David Johnson was "our hero," Wilson told CNN, and Trump's comments were "not something that you say to a grieving wife." The White House would not comment on the phone call, saying the conversation was private. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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