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White House chief of staff John Kelly, addressing the media this evening Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP / AP
WHITE HOUSE CHIEF of staff John Kelly has delivered an extraordinary denunciation of a Democratic congresswoman who made claims about a phone call made by Donald Trump to the family of a dead soldier.
Kelly pulled no punches this evening in accusing Florida’s Frederica Wilson of politicising what he called a “sacred” presidential effort to console the grieving loved ones of slain soldier La David Johnson.
Kelly, in an unexpected and emotional appearance in the White House briefing room, invoked the death of his own son, killed in Afghanistan in 2010, as he lashed out at Wilson, who earlier this week said that President Trump had been disrespectful in his condolence call to the family of Johnson, who was recently killed during an ambush in Niger.
Kelly, speaking slowly and forcefully, said he was “heartbroken” that Wilson overheard the conversation and used it to attack the president.
“It stuns me that a member of Congress listened into that conversation,” said Kelly.
It stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.
Trump has emphatically rejected claims that he was disrespectful. But he ignited a storm of his own this week when he boasted about his commitment to calling service members’ next of kin and brought Kelly into the controversy by wondering aloud if President Barack Obama had called the former Marine general after the death of Kelly’s own son.
Kelly confirmed today that Obama had not in fact called, but he made clear “that’s not a criticism”.
“That’s not a negative thing,” he said.
I don’t believe all presidents call. I believe they all write.
‘Lighten the burden’
He revealed that when Trump took office, he urged the president not to make those calls, saying: “I said to him, ‘Sir there’s nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families’.”
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But when Trump indicated he wanted to do so, Kelly revealed to him what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when his son Robert was killed.
Kelly recalled that Dunford said his son “was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed”.
Frederica Wilson Alan Diaz / AP
Alan Diaz / AP / AP
He knew what he was getting into. He knew what the possibilities were because we’re at war.
And Kelly added that Dunford told him that “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.”
His speech was a direct rebuke to Wilson, who was in the car with Sergeant Johnson’s family in Miami when Trump called on Tuesday.
She said in an interview that Trump had told the widow that “you know that this could happen when you signed up for it… but it still hurts”.
He also referred to Johnson as “your guy”, Wilson said, which the congresswoman found insensitive.
Robert Kelly (29) was killed when he stepped on a landmine in Afghanistan’s remote Helmand province.
His father, aware that his son had accompanied patrols through mine-filled battlefields, had just days before warned the family of the potential danger, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Kelly today said that his family got calls from Robert’s friends in Afghanistan attesting to his character. Those calls, he said as he fought back tears, were the most important.
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@GoodBrother: Really. Inflation has been creeping up for well over a year now, nearly 2. Unless you used zero electricity until this bill, or were locked into a really low tariff for almost 2 years, then I do not believe this is your highest bill since inflation started to rise.
We are now the most expensive country in Europe to live in. I never imagined we’d be more pricey than Switzerland or Norway. Thank you, FFG. Also on track to become the most obese.14 million each day for our national debt of $250 billion. Third-world heat care systems. the capital’s inner city is rife with violence and drugs. As a country, we are regressing.
Mute thanks for the beautiful music christy rest in pea
Favourite thanks for the beautiful music christy rest in pea
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Jul 28th 2023, 2:05 PM
Worked hard all my life as a chef to save enough for my own buisness watching it all dwindled away look after there own big hotels cashing in a fortune on migrants while the small tourists buisness get a slap on the face .
Stop voting FF/FG ye thick muppets, let SF in, we need a change..but in all fairness this open door my documents, come in my friends has to stop. I was walking around Ennis, Co Clare the other, For a bit I thought I was in the suburbs of Mogadishu, only the rip off cost of a pint and newspaper brought me back to drizzleville.
@will o bdee: The shiners will be the same, they will be forced to stay in line, easy to promise the Earth in opposition, but it will either be business as usual or populist policies will lead to medium to long term problems. either way, I cannot see it SF doing any better than the current shower of tool bags.
@paulinlavally@gmail.com: It was the Bankers and Developers that collapsed the Irish economy.
Greed rife at the moment. Could list crisis after crisis but I can’t be bothered
But yeah it was the guy on the dole.
Look up lad.
@Monty Carlow: go to the docks near customs during the night,row out some,rip up you’re passport row in early morning,say you’ve amnesia or lost you’re passport rowing,they’re lost on flights available when they’re boarding, lost when landing it’s amazing in a completely sealed aircraft how it can happen shouldn’t be hard to understand in a boat I’d imagine…
In who’s opinion? absolute rubbish,it’s through the roof and slowly but surely rising in different segments be it food, electricity and fuel which will again increase in october,perfect timing when kids go back to school and cold weather kicks in and people need heating oil which they’ve been putting off keeping they’re heads above water at present and we might get help with more money from government, what money? it’s all going up again they’ve said it already the payment won’t outway the cost to the average person we lose again.
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