The war of words between a Florida congresswoman and a former aide to President Donald Trump continued in recent days as U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., slammed retired Gen. John Kelly, a former White House chief of staff.
Back in October 2017, Kelly weighed in on Wilson's account about what the president said to the widow and family of an American soldier killed in the line of duty in Niger. Kelly lost his son in the line of duty in Afghanistan in 2010.
Wilson made headlines across the nation when she offered her account of Trump’s call to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson who was killed in October 2017. The Florida Democrat said Trump told Johnson's widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for."
Trump denied Wilson’s account of the conversation even as Johnson’s mother told the Washington Post that “President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband.”
Kelly spoke to the media and criticized Wilson taking to the national airwaves to offer her account of the conversation.
"I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and broken hearted when I saw what a member of Congress was doing,” Kelly said
“It stuns me that a member of Congress would have listened in on that conversation,” Kelly added. “It stuns me."
"The selfless devotion that brings a man or a woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that might be sacred,” he continued.
Kelly also defended Trump’s handling of the call. "He expressed his condolences in the best way he could,” Kelly said.
Touching on his own experience as a Gold Star father, Kelly noted that he did not receive a call from then President Barack Obama back in 2010 and insisted he was not criticizing the former president in saying that.
"Some presidents elected to call, all presidents have elected to send letters,” Kelly said. “It's the most difficult thing you can imagine."
Wilson fired back on Twitter over attacks she has garnered in the aftermath of offering her account of the conversation between the Johnson family and Trump. She also renewed her call for an investigation into the death of Johnson and three other soldiers in Niger.
“It pays to have a thick skin in public service,” Wilson posted. “We need to know why #SgtLaDavidJohnson & fellow soldiers were in such a vulnerable position.”
After being forced out of the White House at the start of the year, Kelly is now looking to start a public speaking career and his promotional video features him taking aim at Wilson.
“There's just one featured video of him speaking, though, and it comes from a White House press room appearance in October 2017. In it, Kelly discusses going to the dedication of a new FBI field office in Florida in 2015, and how Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) only ‘talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building.’ Wilson slammed the comments as a ‘lie,’” The Week reported last week. Politifact insisted Kelly’s comment about Wilson’s speech was false.
Wilson punched back at Kelly last week.
“Upon learning that General John Kelly is using a video of himself telling a blatant lie about me to promote his new public speaking career, I felt as stunned as I did on the day that he uttered the falsehoods live from the podium of the White House briefing room,” Wilson said on Thursday. “It is astounding that after nearly two years of mentions in the media highlighting his deceit and the cloud under which he ended his tenure as President Trump’s chief of staff, that he would use this as an example of one of his finest moments. There’s no denying the incident brought General Kelly lots of fame, but has he no shame?
“If his actions weren’t so deplorable I might feel sorry for him because despite his outward bravado, deep inside he knows the truth. When General Kelly looks in the mirror, even he can see the four stars he worked so hard to earn are forever tarnished as a result of his inexplicable decision on Oct. 19, 2017, to lie about me and lie to the American people,” Wilson added.
