WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is continuing to reject a Florida congresswoman’s account that he told the widow of a soldier killed in an ambush in Niger that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
Trump says Wednesday before a meeting at the White House that he “didn’t say it at all.” He adds: “I had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said.”
Sgt. La David Johnson was among four servicemen killed in the African nation of Niger earlier this month. Rep. Frederica Wilson said she was with Myeshia Johnson Tuesday when Trump called the widow. She said she overheard Trump’s words.
The serviceman’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the congresswoman’s account was correct. She said “not only did he disrespect my son,” but also the family.
Trump, asked by reporters about an earlier tweet saying he had “proof”of what he said, the president said: “let her (Wilson) make her statement again and you’ll find out.”