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Kelly defends Trump on casualties, attacks 'selfish' congresswoman

Olivier Knox 17 hours ago


Gen. Kelly heartbreakingly talks about his son's death









WASHINGTON — Invoking the death of his son, a Marine, in Afghanistan, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an impassioned defense on Thursday of President Trump’s outreach to families of four Americans recently killed in Niger. Kelly also denounced Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., as “selfish” for criticizing Trump for his message to one soldier’s widow.

“I appeal to America: Let’s not let this, maybe, last thing that’s held sacred in our society: a young man, young woman going out and giving his or her life for our country. Let’s try to somehow keep that sacred,” Kelly said in an unusual appearance in the White House briefing room. “It eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress.”

Wilson had said that Trump callously told Myeshia Johnson — whose husband Army Sgt. La David Johnson was killed in an Oct. 4 patrol in Niger — that her husband “knew what he signed up for.” The congresswoman, a Johnson family friend, reportedly overheard parts of the conversation while riding in the same car as the widow. Trump flatly denied that account on Twitter Wednesday and said he had “proof.” The soldier’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, reportedly said that the president had “disrespected” her family.

But Kelly, a retired Marine general, broadly confirmed Wilson’s account — while explaining that Trump had drawn inspiration from what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, told him when Robert Kelly was killed after stepping on a landmine while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.

“He said ‘Kell, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into, by joining the Marines — that 1 percent — he knew what the possibilities were, because we’re at war,” Kelly said. “‘When he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends.’


“That’s what the president tried to say to four families the other day,” Kelly said. “I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife, and, in his way, tried to express that opinion — he was a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted — there was no reason to enlist, he enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, exactly the people he wanted to be with, when his life was taken. That was the message.”




White House Chief of Staff John Kelly addresses a briefing at the White House today. (Photo: Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

Kelly also said that then-President Barack Obama had not called him when the younger Kelly was killed.

“That was not a criticism, that was just to simply say I don’t believe President Obama called. That’s not a negative thing,” Kelly said, underlining that past presidents, especially those on whose watch casualty numbers have been high, typically have not called.

That was a response to the outraged reaction to Trump falsely telling reporters on Tuesday that Obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. The president had been responding to questions about why he kept silent for nearly two weeks after the Niger ambush.

For much of the unusual briefing, Kelly drew attention to the divide between Americans who serve in the armed forces, as well as their friends and loved ones, and between Americans who have not worn the uniform and don’t know anyone who has. He announced he would only take questions from reporters who knew a Gold Star family, scolded those shielded from America’s longest war, and complained that the country had lost what used to be seen as “sacred” when he was a child.

“I just thought, the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, I just thought that that might be sacred,” Kelly said. (Earlier, he had suggested that respect for Gold Star families was tarnished by last summer’s political conventions, which both featured partisan speeches by the parents of men killed in combat.)

“You know, when I was a kid, every man in my life was a veteran — World War II, Korea — and there was the draft,” the retired general said. “These young people today, they don’t do it for any other reason than their selfless sense of selfless devotion to this great nation.”





I get what Trump may have wanted to express and I also feel that he is unable to do that for several reasons not the least of which is his lack of empathy of any kind . What struck me is how words delivered in another way by another better man could have made a horrific time for that family marginally better . Kelly is such a man and I feel angry that such a man is put in a position to be a spin doctor for the current P.O.S that occupies the White House . It is beneath a warrior and a true patriot to be used that way .

His press conference is worth a listen.
[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/Ps5ttDzWBaY[/video]

'Widow releases Trump's call after her husband was killed in Afghanistan'

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/widow-...article/2638138

I hate to defend Trump but he didn't say "he knew what he signed up for" anywhere in the conversation, you can listen to it yourself.

Maybe Kelly should make these phone calls.

Wrong story, wrong widow . While I think Trump may have had good intentions his message may have been misconstrued due to who he is and what he has previously said and done . This low rent congresswoman is going to get all the use she can from this incident though . Why cant Trump simply take the high road for once ? Apologize for any perceived slight to the dead soldiers family , reiterate the importance of the sacrifice and well..be Presidential .

Because it’s not in his nature to ever believe he’s been wrong. His massive ego makes this scenario impossible.

No his job . Not Trumps either but I do respect him for his attempt ( even though he ruined it by patting himself on the back for it ).

Are you serious? I had a feeling that there might have been another story and they got meshed into the same one in my head. Oh well. Thanks for the correction.

i can't imagine what my parents would say if i died and trump called them saying some BS like that. and both of them are vets.

this could be one of those situations where its best to let somebody else besides trump talk to these families. this guy lacks what it takes to be president.

far too often people think the president is just suppose to push policies, when the POTUS is so much more than that.

so very much more.

Letters.
Only letters.
Proof-read (by someone else) letters.
NO PHONE CALLS OR FACE-TO-FACE

Dude could screw up a one-car parade.

Well perhaps President Trump could have spoken like you on the Left...

For a stunning and emotional 18 minutes on Thursday, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly cut through a nasty debate over condolence calls to Gold Star families, appealing to the political class to allow at least this one thing to remain “sacred.”

Instead, Democratic lawmakers and operatives and allies in the media immediately turned on Kelly – himself a Gold Star father – branding him a liar and an “enabler” of President Trump, even suggesting his criticism of a black Democrat who publicized one of those calls was racist.

“Kelly isnt just an enabler of Trump. He's a believer in him. That makes him as odious as the rest. Dont be distracted by the uniform,” Hillary Clinton’s former spokesman and CNN contributor Brian Fallon tweeted.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/...lence-call.html

Shame!

This congresswoman is NO friend of veterans or their families. What a disgrace she is.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/...cord-shows.html

That is a tape of a different guy. Not the guy that the Congress woman is speaking about.
This is about this guy

Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, who was killed in Afghanistan.

The guy this whole thing is about was about Army Sgt. La David Johnson was killed in an Oct. 4 patrol in Niger

I'll admit this one he handled better, if indeed that was trump.. I turned it up loud, kinda sounded like him but I have to be honest, I'm not 100% sure.

She seems to be more friendly than Fox News putting fake vets on tv.

I agree.
(Don't fall over)

That congresswoman should never have outed that phone call. Zero class.
Others should have left Kelly alone.

You see? I don't do "lockstep."

All he had to do was clear the air and not act like a spurned teenager . His intentions were good , at least that's what I choose to believe because to believe he is just using these phone calls to make him look better to his base is unthinkable.

Not a fake vet . Real vet with a fake career who also happens to be a pretty good artist assuming we are talking about the fake Navy Seal . Fox news and CNN are two sides of the same coin and equally reprehensible agenda pushing "news" .

He feels the least a President can do is call the widow and show the respect of a grateful Nation.
He went so far as to ask General Kelly how he should word it.
Kelly originally told him not to make the calls and I can see why after all the ungrateful crap I am witnessing from the Left.

Nothing and no one matters in America today except "Get Trump!"

Therein lies your spurned teenager.

He had good intentions.
It was a good convo they had.
Kelly told him what to say, and it was a very well-worded message.

Then it got the Trump treatment, and turned into a bigazz pile of word salad and misunderstanding.

That's why I said "Letters. Proof-read letters."

Nah, let him tweet it.

40 you have no idea how he feels and if he weren't such a bloated egomaniac he would have listened to a wise man . Instead he went off script and the ensuing chaos is a result .
The reason Kelly advised him against it is he probably knew he would screw it up and he ( Kelly ) would have to bail his ass out again .

You are wrong.
I know President Trump.
I understand his thinking.
I have even met the man.
He has a 70 year history if you would like to know him too.

so you was there when he walked into pageant dressing rooms unannounced?

Maybe he was identifying as a woman that day.

if thats the case, then i guess conservatives do support men in womens bathrooms afterall.

Don't female reporters in the nfl, mlb, nba, etc have equal access to the locker rooms as male reporters? Or did I just assume that?

Maybe but not sure where you are going with that .

Video undermines White House attack on Rep. Wilson over condolence calls

https://www.yahoo.com/news/video-undermi...-172316580.html

The controversy continues over President Trump’s treatment of a military widow during a condolence call, with Rep. Frederica Wilson, Fla., accusing the White House of lying about her record.

And new video emerged Friday bolstering Wilson’s case.

White House chief of staff John Kelly criticized Wilson on Thursday for reporting that Trump told Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four soldiers killed in Niger earlier this month, “knew what he signed up for” by joining the service.

Kelly did not mention Wilson by name. He then went on to slam an unnamed congresswoman at a 2015 event he and Wilson were both at. Kelly said at a FBI building dedication in Miami, the congresswoman, “in the tradition of empty barrels making the most noise,” boasted about securing $20 million in funding for the building,

But video of Wilson’s speech, uncovered by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, did not show her making the funding boast.

“That’s a lie,” Wilson said Friday of Kelly’s comments, during a “New Day” interview. “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.”

The chief of staff said the ceremony was a solemn affair, as the building was being named for slain FBI agents “Grogan and Duke.” Wilson was in attendance because she introduced the legislation to name the field office for Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove.

In a statement to NBC News, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Kelly’s remarks expressed that he was “stunned” by Wilson’s speech. At a White House briefing on Friday, Sanders also said Kelly “absolutely” stands by his statement.


White House Chief of Staff John Kelly speaks about President Trump’s calls to fallen service members next of kin during a briefing at the White House October 19, 2017 in Washington, (Photo: Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
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On Thursday, Kelly also said he was “broken-hearted” that Wilson had “listened in” on the conversation between Trump and Johnson. Wilson says she is a family friend and was in the car with Johnson, who held the call on speakerphone en route to receive her husband’s body at the airport. It was then, Wilson said, that Trump told Johnson that her slain husband “knew what he signed up for.”

Trump denied the remark outright, but Kelly seemed to confirm it Thursday, characterizing it as a distortion of a well-intended sentiment. Even after Kelly gave his account, Trump said the “wacky” Wilson was pushing a “total lie” in a tweet Thursday night.

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Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!
10:53 PM - Oct 19, 2017
42,349 42,349 Replies 17,277 17,277 Retweets 71,969 71,969 likes
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On Friday, Wilson simply said, “There’s nothing to misinterpret. He said what he said.”

Trump drew attention to his interactions with military families Tuesday when he falsely claimed that his predecessors — name-checking former President Barack Obama specifically — did not call to express condolences to Gold Star families. Trump made the comments while defending his own lack of public statements about the four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger on Oct. 4. Trump then reached out to the families of the slain service members, including Myeshia Johnson.

Kelly, a retired Marine general, had suggested Thursday that Trump’s false statement about past presidents’ calls emerged from a conversation about the issue. In that discussion, Kelly said, he noted that Obama didn’t call him when his son, a Marine, was killed in 2010.

“That was not a criticism, that was just to simply say I don’t believe President Obama called. That’s not a negative thing,” Kelly said.

_____________

Not a good look, Kelly.

Yes, IRE 45 already corrected me a few posts above yours. My bad.

The speech she made was fine as she was on stage and said all the right things.

The problem General Kelly has with her was what she said after that speech.
Woman is scum.

Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson: White House 'is full of white supremacists'

I remember a time when the words Racism and Racist actually meant something.

I don't.

So far on this thread, people are commenting on a conversation they never heard and never will hear. Aren't you doing the exact same thing the congresswoman did?

j/c

There are a few things that bear noting.

One thing is the fake outrage about the congresswoman listening to the phone call. The family chose for her to listen to the phone call. But then Trump has done enough attacking of Gold star Families. One family was Muslim, the other one black. Hmmm...

The congresswoman has been friends of the family for a very long time. Close friends.

The congresswoman was accused of bribing Obama for the 20 million dollar funding for the new FBI building. She wasn't even a member of congress when that money was appropriated. That accusation was a lie.

In attack on Frederica Wilson over Trump’s call to widow, John Kelly gets facts wrong

WASHINGTON

When White House Chief of Staff John Kelly condemned a Miami congresswoman on Thursday for sneering at President Donald Trump’s condolence call to a soldier’s widow, the retired general recalled when the two attended a somber ceremony in Miramar to dedicate a new FBI building named after two slain FBI agents.

Kelly criticized Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson for claiming “she got the money” for the new building during the 2015 ceremony while he and others in the audience were focused on the heroism of agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, killed during a 1986 shootout with bank robbers south of Miami.

Thursday night, Wilson said Kelly got the story flat-out wrong. In fact, she said Washington approved the money before she was even in Congress. The legislation she sponsored named the building after Grogan and Dove, a law enacted just days before the ceremony.

“He shouldn't be able to just say that, that is terrible,” Wilson said of Kelly’s remarks in the White House briefing room, the latest volley in the controversy over Trump’s condolence call to a military widow from Miami Gardens, an area Wilson represents. “This has become totally personal.”

In 2015, Wilson won praise from Miami Republicans for sponsoring the bill to name the long anticipated federal building after two agents who became legends in local law enforcement.

At the dedication ceremony, James Comey, then director of the FBI, lauded Wilson’s legislation, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama three days before the April 2015 ceremony.

“Rep. Wilson truly did the impossible, and we are eternally grateful,” Comey said in his remarks.

On Thursday evening, an administration spokesman issued a statement that said: “The White House stands by Gen. Kelly’s account of the event.”

President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson from Miami Gardens have been feuding over a call he made to a fallen soldier's widow. Sgt. La David T. Johnson was killed in an ambush during a joint-military mission in Niger on Oct. 4, 2017.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article179869321.html

The controversy was still raging at the White House late Thursday night. Shortly before 11 p.m., Trump tweeted: “The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!”

And the bolded part is yet another lie.

Kelly needs to learn a valuable lesson from this. Never trust Trumps people when giving you information to tell the public. They don't recognize the truth, understand the truth or tell you the truth. It is only serving to tarnish Kelly's reputation.

There is the history of context here that's worth examining.

Trump is a pathological liar. This has been confirmed over and over, time and time again, since his name first hit Page Six back in the 1980's.

Trump is incredibly dumb. This has been confirmed over and over, time and time again, since his name first hit Page Six in the 1980's.

With that in mind, I would take just about anyone's word over his. There's a few instances where he would merit the benefit of the doubt, but not many.

Couple that with 3 separate individuals refuting his account, all of them corroborating, and why on Earth would anyone doubt when they say he is lying?

(Also, the congresswoman was not giving a secondhand account. She was present, with the widow, when the call occurred. I'm not a fan of her, either. She has a pretty shady pro-Obama record).

Praying to his picture on your shrine does not translate to knowing him.

I remember those days too! We can call the the years BD. (Before Donald)

It does mean something.

Like now. Interesting that a white guy in senate said this, too.

But the problem is that once again, just like ISIS, you guys stay trying to put some sort of number to it.

The fact is we have no idea how many people are racist, or support white nationalist ideas.

Everybody should really do their research on how these groups decided in the 80’s to change their image from jack booted thugs, to blending into society.

But I know most won’t because it goes against everything y’all think you know.

Or maybe you do know...

Ya it does .. in this particular case it means she’s a LYING BEATCH!!!!!