Mourners say goodbye to slain sergeant in Trump call controversy
Mourners gathered at a Florida church on Saturday to say a final farewell to an Army sergeant whose death has become ensnared in a spiraling political controversy.
Sgt. La David Johnson and three other U.S. soldiers were killed in an ISIS ambush in Niger two weeks ago.
The tragedy has been overshadowed by a political back-and-forth between President Trump and a Florida congresswoman over a phone call made to Johnson’s widow.
Heartbroken relatives followed a somber procession into the Christ the Rock Community Church in Cooper City, Fla. on Saturday, filing past Debbie Valin and her teenage daughter, Michelle Shawn.
The pair held up an American flag ahead of the service, which was closed to the press.
“We are here for the military. We are grateful for the people who serve,” said Valin, whose grandson just completed Marine boot camp.
Johnson’s widow held the arm of an Army officer as she led her family, dressed in white, into the church.
The squabble between Trump and Rep. Frederica Wilson began Tuesday when she went public about Trump’s phone call with Johnson’s pregnant widow, Myeshia.
The President reportedly told the grieving young mother that her 25-year-old husband “knew what he signed up for.”
Trump denied Wilson’s account, calling her “wacky” and saying she “fabricated” his statement.
He also accused her of “SECRETLY” listening to the phone call.
White House chief of staff, John Kelly, entered the fray on Thursday, saying he was “stunned” by Wilson’s actions.
He also asserted that the congresswoman delivered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she grandstanded about securing funding for the building, which was being named for a pair of agents killed in the line of duty.
Kelly claimed he and others were appalled by Wilson made the event about her rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents.
Video of the nine-minute speech posted online by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday discredits Kelly’s account.
Wilson took umbrage with Kelly’s story and his defense of the President, saying Friday the former general “needs to stop telling lies on me.”
“He has my sympathy for the loss of his son. But he can’t just go on TV and lie on me,” Wilson told CNN.
In the hours ahead of Johnson’s funeral, Trump again went on the offensive.
“I hope the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she, as a representative, is killing the Democrat Party!” he wrote.
Trump is spending the day at his Virginia golf resort.
With News Wire Services
