Can't just go on TV and lie on me...

Wilson accuses John Kelly of lying: ‘How dare he’

'I feel sorry for Gen. Kelly. He has my sympathy for the loss of his son. But he can't just go on TV and lie on me,' she says.

By LOUIS NELSON

Rep. Frederica Wilson on Friday accused White House chief of staff John Kelly of lying about her during his emotional remarks in defense of the president’s language during a condolence call to the widow of a soldier killed in action.

Kelly, a former Marine Corps general whose own son was killed in action in 2010 in Afghanistan, told reporters Thursday that he was “brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing,” accusing Wilson (D-Fla.) of politicizing the death of Army Sgt. La David Johnson to attack President Donald Trump.

He also recalled the 2015 dedication of an FBI field office in Miami, where he suggested Wilson had inappropriately sought credit for obtaining funding for the building in remarks that followed speeches from survivors of a 1986 firefight between bureau agents and drug traffickers.

“You know, I feel sorry for Gen. Kelly. He has my sympathy for the loss of his son. But he can't just go on TV and lie on me. I was not even in Congress in 2009 when the money for the building was secured. So that's a lie. How dare he?” Wilson said Friday morning on CNN's "New Day." “He didn't tell the truth, and he needs to stop telling lies on me.”

Wilson's "New Day" interview brings Trump's handling of his condolence phone call to Johnson's widow into its fourth day, elongating a potentially damaging story that has consumed much of the week's news cycle just as the White House is ramping up efforts to overhaul the nation's tax code and significantly cut taxes. Trump's feud with Wilson — he called the congresswoman "wacky" and a liar Thursday night — also recalls the president's feud last summer with another Gold Star family, the Khans, raising questions about his interactions with such families overall.

Two of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, were quick Friday morning to wade into the controversy themselves and jumped to their father's defense. Eric Trump, in an interview with Fox News's "Fox & Friends," called Wilson's willingness to share the contents of the president's conversation with a Gold Star widow "just disgusting," an action that "shows the absolute worst of politics."

Donald Trump Jr., in a post to his Twitter account, shared a video of Wilson responding to Kelly's remarks by saying, "You mean to tell me that I have become so important that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That’s amazing. That is absolutely phenomenal. I’ll have to tell my kids that I’m a rock star now." Along with the video, the president's son added his own message: "So, what anyone with a brain already knew comes out on tape. Make a name for yourself at any cost. Disgusting person."

In defending the president against accusations that he had been insensitive, Kelly struck back at Wilson, saying he was stunned when Wilson, "in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise" took credit for securing funding for the office.

Indeed, Kelly's remarks did misstate some facts about Wilson's involvement in the FBI field office during his Thursday remarks, according to several news reports. Money for the office was appropriated before the Florida lawmaker was first elected in 2010, according to The Washington Post. And it was Wilson who sponsored legislation to name the field office in honor of Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, two FBI agents who were killed in the 1986 firefight with drug traffickers, a step that earned her praise at the dedication ceremony from then-FBI Director James Comey.

Wilson stepped into the spotlight this week after sharing with the media on Tuesday and Wednesday that Trump had told Johnson’s widow in a telephone conversation that her husband had known what he signed up for when he enlisted in the military - but that his death was sad nonetheless. She said she had heard part of the president’s conversation with the widow via speakerphone and that the widow had been with the impression that Trump did not know her husband’s name.

During Thursday's press conference, Kelly shared the story of his son’s death, a subject about which he is typically extremely private. He said Gen. Joe Dunford, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had consoled him with words similar to what he president said to Johnson’s widow this week.

“He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 percent,” Kelly said Dunford had told him. “He knew what the possibilities were because we’re at war, and when he died … he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends.”

But Wilson was unwilling to accept that perhaps she had misinterpreted the president’s intentions, telling CNN that the bottom line was that Johnson’s family had been left hurt and offended by Trump’s remarks. The president’s sentiment, that Johnson “knew what he signed up for,” was inappropriate for a grieving widow, Wilson said.

That Johnson’s body was left behind and not recovered until two days after the initial attack was especially concerning, Wilson said, and further proof that the consolation offered to Kelly was inappropriate for Johnson’s family. “He was abandoned for two days, for 48 hours. Why?” she said. “Why didn't they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades, and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety. He could have still been alive.”

“That is not a good message to say to anyone who has lost a child at war. You don't sign up because you knew you're going to die. You sign up to serve your country,” she said. “There's nothing to misinterpret. He said what he said. I just don't agree with it. I don't agree that that is what you should say to grieving families.”