White House refuses to deny Trump told soldier’s widow her husband ‘knew what he signed up for’ – By Laura Clawson (dailykos.com) / Oct 18 2017
The “proof” Donald Trump bragged about having that he didn’t tell a slain soldier’s widow that “he knew what he signed up for” is no proof at all. The White House doesn’t have recordings of the call, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at Wednesday’s press briefing. And Sanders isn’t denying that Trump said those words. She’s just saying that, whatever words he said, they were appropriate and respectful.
Trump’s supposed proof appears to be that there were White House aides present, including chief of staff John Kelly. We’re supposed to believe Trump’s underlings instead of Sgt. La David Johnson’s family and Rep. Frederica Wilson, even though Sanders twice refused to say that Trump did not say “he knew what he signed up for,” words Trump claimed were “completely fabricated.” After Sanders evaded a question on whether Trump said those words, she was asked directly, to which she responded that “I spoke specifically to the sentiment that was offered by the president. I didn’t get into the details.” Why? Because it wouldn’t be “appropriate.”
According to Trump’s underlings, Trump was “completely respectful, very sympathetic.” But according to Cowanda Jones-Johnson, “President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband.” Sanders, meanwhile, decried the media and also Rep. Wilson for politicizing an issue that Trump had first politicized on Monday by saying his predecessors in the White House didn’t call the families of service members killed in action. The official line is that it’s a media attack to say that Trump’s comments were inappropriate or political.
But did he say that Johnson “knew what he signed up for”?
The White House can’t deny that. Which means that each time they say that everyone in the room with Trump (John Kelly included) thought it was respectful and appropriate, they’re telling us how much respect Trump and everyone around him think Sgt. La David Johnson and his grieving family deserve—and what they think it’s appropriate to think of soldiers’ deaths.
PB/TK – Isn’t this the second or third time POTUS Donnie said he had “proof” (in audio form) of conversations? He bragged he would release so-called tapes of Comey conversations only having to back track and now with a new verbal battle with Rep Wilson.
