The war of words between President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., about what the president said to the widow and family of an American soldier killed in the line of duty in Niger continued on Wednesday.
Wilson made headlines across the nation when she offered her account on Tuesday of Trump’s call to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson who was killed earlier this month. The Florida Democrat said Trump told Johnson's widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for."
On Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter and insisted that Wilson was lying.
"Democrat congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof),” Trump posted. “Sad!"
Trump followed that post up on Wednesday and insisted Wilson was lying.
“I didn't say what that congresswoman said; didn't say it all. She knows it,” Trump told the media, according to the Washington Post. “I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was — sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren’t too surprised to hear that.”
Wilson took to Twitter as well and stuck to her previous comments.
“I stand my account of the call with @realDonaldTrump and was not the only one who heard and was dismayed by his insensitive remarks,” Wilson posted on Wednesday.
“I still stand by my account of the call b/t @realDonaldTrump and Myeshia Johnson," Wilson also posted on Twitter. That is her name, Mr. Trump. Not ‘the woman’ or ‘the wife,’”
Wilson, who took to the House floor to praise Johnson’s sacrifice earlier in the month, appeared on MSNBC on Wednesday morning and doubled down on her position, offering her take on the conversation which she heard over speaker phone.
Talking to MSNBC, Wilson said Myeshia Johnson was upset during her call with the president.
“She was crying the whole time, and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name,’” Wilson said. “That’s the hurting part.”
Wilson was asked about Trump’s tone.
“It was almost like joking,” Wilson insisted. “He said, ‘Well, I guess you knew’ — something to the effect that ‘he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway.’ You know, just matter-of-factly, that this is what happens Anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die and hat’s the way we interpreted it. It was horrible. It was insensitive. It was absolutely crazy, unnecessary. I was livid.”
Wilson also offered her take on how Myeshia Johnson responded to this.
“She was in tears,” Wilson said. “She was in tears. And she said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’”
Asked if she was politicizing the conversation, Wilson pointed to her record on Capitol Hill, calling for more action against Boko Haram which she called the “most dangerous terrorist group in the world.” She also called for an investigation of Johnson’s death.
“I’m not trying to politicize what the president said,” she insisted. “I have been fighting Boko Haram.”
Asked again about if she was politicizing the conversation, Wilson insisted she was not.
“Someone asked me a question, ‘Did you hear the call? Tell us what you heard,'" Wilson answered. “I told them what I heard. That’s not politicizing anything. That was my constituent.”
Johnson’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, backed Wilson up on Wednesday.
“President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Jones-Johnson told the Washington Post.
