White House chief of staff John Kelly is “disgusted” by the politicization of President Trump’s phone calls to the families of fallen service members, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.
“I think that Gen. Kelly is disgusted by the way that this has been politicized and that the focus has become on the process and not the fact that American lives were lost,” Sanders told reporters during the White House press briefing. “I think he’s disgusted and frustrated by that. If he has any anger, it’s towards that.”
The issue of phone calls made to families of service members killed in action first arose Monday when Trump was asked about four U.S. Special Forces killed in Niger earlier this month.
The president said he had written letters to their families and planned to call them, then accused his predecessors, including former President Barack Obama, of rarely speaking with families of fallen service members on the phone.
Trump’s comments earned the ire of former aides to Obama, who accused Trump of lying.
“That’s a fucking lie,” Alyssa Mastromonaco, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff for operations, tweeted. “To say President Obama (or past presidents) didn’t call the family members of soldiers KIA — he’s a deranged animal.”
The president then said Tuesday in an interview with Fox News Radio anyone with questions about whether Obama placed phone calls to families of fallen troops should ask Kelly.
Kelly’s son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
Sanders said Wednesday she wasn’t sure if Trump told Kelly he was planning to bring up the death of Kelly’s son when discussing his accusations toward past presidents.
“I’m not sure if he knew of that specific comment, but they had certainly spoken about it,” she said. “He’s aware and they have spoken several times since then.”
Trump spoke on the phone Tuesday to Myeshia Johnson, whose husband, Army Sgt. La David Johnson, was one of the soldiers killed in Niger.
According to Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., Trump told Johnson her husband “knew what he signed up for … but when it happens, it hurts anyway.”
Trump and the White House refuted Wilson’s retelling of the conversation and Sanders said Wednesday there were administration officials in the room who can verify what was discussed.
