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| PHOTO: Myeshia Johnson is presented with a folded U.S. flag by a military honor guard member during the burial service for her husband U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson at the Memorial Gardens East cemetery, Oct. 21, 2017, in Hollywood, Fla. (Gaston De Cardenas/AFP/Getty Images) |
The pregnant widow of U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who
was among four U.S. service members killed in Niger earlier this month,
expressed a mix of blame and sorrow today on "Good Morning America,"
saying she was not happy about President Donald Trump's condolence phone call
and upset because she says he struggled to remember the name of his husband.
ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos spoke to Myeshia
Johnson, who criticized Trump's handling of the phone call that started a
firestorm of controversy.
"I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my
husband's name, and that’s what hurt me the most because if my husband is out
here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can’t
you remember his name," said Johnson.
After Johnson’s interview aired, Trump argued on Twitter
today that he spoke Sgt. Johnson’s name from the beginning and without
hesitation.
I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!
Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., last week adamantly
defended her version of Trump's phone call to Johnson in an interview with ABC
News.
Wilson, who was accompanying Johnson to Dover Air Force Base
when the president called, heard Trump on speakerphone attempting to console
her.
"I heard him say, 'Well I guess you know he knew what
he was signing up for, but it still hurts,'" Wilson told ABC News.
Trump called the congresswoman’s description a "total
fabrication."
Johnson, days after being informed of her husband’s fatal
firefight, said she was barred from seeing her husband’s body or given any
straight story on how he died in Niger.
"I need to see him so I will know that that is my
husband," Johnson, who's expecting to give birth to their daughter in
January, said.
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| PHOTO: Myeshia Johnson, the wife of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, looks down at his casket after the burial at Hollywood Memorial Gardens, Oct. 21, 2017, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Polaris) |
She added: “They won’t show me a finger, a hand; I know my
husband’s body from head-to-toe and they won’t let me see anything.”
She said the casket her husband came home in, adorned with
a U.S. flag, remains a mystery box for her. "I don’t know what’s in that
box," she said. “It could be empty for all I know.”
Johnson added, "I need to see my husband.
As for the circumstances of her husband's death, Johnson said
she want to know why it took soldiers 48 hours to find his husband.
When asked today what she wants people to know about her
husband, she said, "I want the world to know how great of a soldier my
husband was and a loving and caring father and husband he was to our
family."
ABC News' Kelly McCarthy contributed to this report.
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