Trump defends phone calls to Gold Star families in Fox Business interview

published 23 October 2017

In Sunday's half of Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo's interview with President Trump, she asked him about White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's "emotional press conference" on Thursday, following criticism of Trump's condolence call to the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, and whether he was expecting Kelly to have "defended you getting criticism from the Gold Star family — well, the media, really." Trump responded by saying that Kelly "was so offended, because he was in the room when I made the call and so were other people. And the call was a very nice call. He was so offended that a woman would be — that somebody would be listening to that call."

Trump did not name the widow, Myeshia Johnson, or the congresswoman who listened in on the call, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), but he told Bartiromo that he's "called many people, and I would think that every one of them appreciated it," adding: "And by the way, I spoke of the name of the young man and I — it was a really — it's a very tough call." According to Wilson, Myeshia Johnson was partly upset that Trump never said La David's name. At a press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders seemed to confirm that, telling a reporter: "Just because the president says 'your guy' doesn't mean he doesn't know his name."

On Friday, Sanders said there is no transcript of the call, responding to a question about an interview Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump gave to Fox News in which she claimed to have seen the transcript. But even in the transcript Lara Trump purports to have seen, Trump called La David Johnson "your husband."

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Myeshia Johnson is on Monday's Good Morning America. Maybe she'll clear some of this up.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.