October 18, 2017

Maybe it's just me, but the most shocking part of this interview with Rep. Frederica Wilson is when Katty Kay started to badger her about "politicizing" Trump's condolence phone call with the pregnant widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, killed Oct. 4 during a terrorist ambush in Nigeria.

"Here now is our full interview with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. If you could just recap what exactly happened yesterday. You're in the car with Ms. Johnson there. The president calls and it goes up on speaker phone and what did you hear from the president?" Willie Geist said.

"Exactly what you said," Rep. Wilson replied. "That's not the worst part. She was crying the whole time. and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, 'He didn't even remember his name. That's the hurting part.' "

Geist said the headline "is the line that you recounted from the president saying that Sergeant Johnson knew what he was getting into when he signed on. What was the tone and the tenor from the president in those particular comments?"

"He was almost like joking. He said, well, I guess you knew -- something to the fact that 'He knew what he was getting into when he signed up. But I guess it hurts anyway.' You know, just matter of factly. That this is what happens. Anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die. And that's the way we interpreted it. And it was horrible. It was insensitive. it was absolutely crazy, unnecessary. Livid."

Geist asked if that was the widow's read of the call, "or are you speaking for yourself?"

"She was in tears. She was in tears and she said, 'He didn't even remember his name.' "

And here's where Katty Kay said one of the most jarring comments ever.

"Congresswoman, obviously, we haven't heard directly from Mrs. Johnson, she's going through an awful lot. This conversation has become intensely politicized. First from the president, but now do you think you have any qualms about, from your point of view as a Democratic congresswoman, also politicizing this conversation? Is it right you are speaking out about what was a conversation between Mrs. Johnson and the president?"

Wow.

"What I am really concerned about --and I wrote a letter to General Mattis about -- the circumstances surrounding his death. I'm not trying to politicize what the president said. That letter went out long before the conversation. I have a real concern because I have been fighting Boko Haram in the Congress of the United States ever since they kidnapped 274 school girls from a private school in Nigeria," Rep. Wilson said.

She explained that the sergeant was from Miami and part of her mentoring program.

"Why was he missing for 48 hours? Why was he in an unarmored car? Why didn't they have appropriate weapons? The most dangerous terrorist group in the world. They burn babies and use little girls as suicide bombers," she said.

Kay pressed on, saying the Pentagon will investigate the deaths of the four soldiers. But apparently the real crime here is that the congresswoman repeated the call.

"What I'm asking you specifically is, are you complicit in politicizing this conversation around the deaths of fallen soldiers?" (Got that? "Complicit.")

"Someone asked me a question: 'Did you hear the call? Tell us what you heard.' I told them what I heard. That's not politicizing anything. That was my constituent," Wilson said.

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