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Oct 4, 2023 · Rep. Frederica Wilson has many things to say about former White House chief of staff John Kelly. None are very nice. “Mr. Kelly is an idiot,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
- Overview
- Kelly says Wilson claimed she secured FBI building funding
- Trump claims Wilson "fabricated" account of his call
The controversy over President Trump's call to the widow of fallen soldier Sgt. La David Johnson has consumed headlines this week, but White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, rather than quelling that controversy, fueled part of it on Thursday.
Mr. Trump was criticized for not calling the families of the four soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger for days, and resorted to suggesting former President Barack Obama didn't call the families of fallen soldiers. He even questioned whether Obama called Kelly when his son died in uniform overseas in 2010. But the controversy took yet another turn after Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat, claimed Mr. Trump told widowed Myeshia Johnson her husband "knew what he was getting into."
On Thursday, Kelly, in a rare and stirring appearance before the White House press corps in the briefing room, said the congresswoman's comments stunned him. He went on to recount a story about Wilson, without specifically naming her, saying she claimed to have secured the funding for an FBI field office in Miami dedicated in 2015. Wilson, on CNN's "New Day Friday, called Kelly's claim a "lie."
Here is what Kelly said, word-for-word.
But Kelly's claim is difficult to construe.
For one thing, Wilson was not in Congress when the FBI secured funding for the building in 2009, a fact which she pointed out during her interview on CNN. Wilson came to Congress in January 2011. Of course, it's still possible Wilson interacted with the White House on plans for the building long before coming to Congress, but Kelly offered nothing to suggest that. The GSA solicited bids for the building that were due September 2010, at which point, the project would have already been fully funded. Wilson wasn't elected until November of that year.
The Orlando-Sentinel on Friday posted video from the 2015 dedication in which, at least from what the Sun Sentinel claims was the entire speech, Wilson does not mention having had any role in securing funding for the building.
Mr. Trump has said Wilson's account of the story was "fabricated" in the first place.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to say Wilson "totally fabricated" what he told Myeisha Johnson, adding that he has "proof."
That same morning, Mr. Trump again denied Wilson's account.
"Didn't say what that congresswoman said," Mr. Trump told reporters from the White House. "Didn't say it at all. She knows it, and she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said."
The woman who raised the slain soldier confirmed Wilson's description of the conversation, saying the conversation showed "disrespect."
- 3 min
Oct 3, 2023 · Former White House chief of staff John Kelly confirmed a series of unsavory anecdotes about his former boss in a new bombshell statement to CNN — but faced widespread criticism for waiting...
Oct 30, 2017 · White House chief of staff John Kelly says he will “absolutely not” apologize for his comments on Rep. Frederica Wilson, adding that he stands by his comments.
Oct 20, 2017 · Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson on Thursday night called out White House Chief of Staff John Kelly for allegedly getting the facts wrong in his defense of President Trump’s condolence...
Oct 20, 2017 · White House chief of staff John Kelly on Thursday leveled fierce criticism against Rep. Frederica Wilson after the Democratic congresswoman publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s call...
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Oct 19, 2017 · John Kelly. By Louis Jacobson October 20, 2017. Fact-checking John Kelly on Frederica Wilson's 2015 speech. The White House continues to criticize U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson,...
