Nineteen days after her husband’s death and two days after his wrenching burial, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson said she has “nothing to say” to President Trump, whose condolence call pulled the grieving widow into the center of a national controversy.
“Very upset and hurt; it made me cry even worse,” Myeshia Johnson said Monday on “Good Morning America,” making her first public comments since she received the call from Trump on the same day her husband’s remains were flown back to the United States.
The president, Johnson said, told her that her husband “knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways. And it made me cry. I was very angry at the tone of his voice, and how he said it.”
She added: “I didn’t say anything. I just listened.”
Her husband was killed in action in West Africa on Oct. 4, one of four U.S. soldiers who died in Niger when Islamic State militants attacked them.
His body was flown back to the United States on Tuesday; soon thereafter, his name became entangled in a controversy, after Trump was accused of making insensitive remarks to the 25-year-old soldier’s widow.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., said Trump told Myeshia Johnson on the phone that her husband “must have known what he signed up for,” an account later corroborated by Johnson’s aunt and custodial mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson.
Sgt. La David Johnson was among the American soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger. U.S. Army Special Operations Command via AP
Trump vehemently denied Wilson’s account, stating without evidence that he had proof it was “totally fabricated.” But White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly later appeared to confirm Wilson’s account. Myeshia Johnson said Monday that Wilson’s version of events was “100 percent correct.”
As questions continued to swirl around the circumstances of Johnson’s death – and around that Tuesday-afternoon condolence call – the fallen soldier’s loved ones largely remained quiet, except for a few public Facebook posts sharing pictures, condolences and memories of him.
“[Pres. Trump] couldn’t remember my husband’s name. … That’s what hurt me the most.” – Myeshia Johnson, widow of Sgt. La David Johnson pic.twitter.com/px5io2RbJB
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 23, 2017
Photos from Saturday’s funeral service and burial in Hollywood, Florida, showed relatives sobbing and members of Johnson’s battalion, the “Bush Hog” formation, breaking down in tears.
Just before he was buried, Myeshia Johnson kissed the casket.
But in her interview Monday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, she said she’s not totally convinced her husband’s remains were inside.
“Why couldn’t I see my husband? Every time I asked to see my husband, they wouldn’t let me,” she said. “They won’t show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband’s body from head to toe; they won’t show me anything.
“I don’t know what’s in that box. It could be empty for all I know.”
Trump did not attend the funeral; a White House press pool report said the president spent part of his Saturday at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2017
To those who knew him, Johnson was a loving husband who had his wife’s name tattooed across his chest; a soldier who pushed to improve himself; a son who enjoyed talking about his family.
He was also a father who was looking forward to seeing his baby girl: Myeshia is six months pregnant. The couple also have a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
“He was very excited. He said, ‘Sergeant B, I’m having a girl!’ ” Staff Sgt. Dennis Bohler, Johnson’s close friend, told The Post last week.
The Washington Post’s Amy B. Wang contributed to this report.
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