John Kelly apparently mischaracterized Rep. Frederica Wilson's 2015 FBI speech, new video shows

Video of a 2015 speech by Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), published Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, apparently proves that comments she made at the dedication of an FBI building did not match White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's portrayal of them when he criticized the congresswoman Thursday. In addition to skewering Wilson for sharing the details of a phone call between President Trump and the widow of a U.S. service member killed in Niger, Kelly claimed Wilson once "talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for" a Florida FBI building and that she told the audience in 2015 that she "just called up President [Barack] Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million, to build the building, and she sat down."

Wilson disputed Kelly's characterization: "He shouldn't be able to just say that, that is terrible," she told the Miami Herald. "This has become totally personal."

Video published Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel apparently shows that Wilson did not in fact claim credit for getting the money for the building, but did take credit for naming the building. "Everyone said, 'That's impossible, it takes at least eight months to a year to complete the process through the House, the Senate, and the president's office,'" Wilson recalls in the video. "I said, 'I'm a school principal.' I said, excuse my French, 'Oh hell no, we're going to get this done.'"

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Wilson did in fact sponsor legislation, signed three days before the 2015 ceremony, to name the building after Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, two FBI agents killed in a shootout near Miami in 1986. The White House stood by Kelly's characterization following the new video: "If you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes about yourself, you're an empty barrel," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Watch the video at the South Florida Sun Sentinel.