During Thursday's news conference, Kelly shared the story of his son’s death in Afghanistan, a subject about which he is typically private. He said Gen. Joe Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had consoled him with words similar to what the president said to Johnson’s widow this week.
“He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 percent,” Kelly said Dunford had told him. “He knew what the possibilities were because we’re at war, and when he died … he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends.”
But Wilson told CNN on Friday that the bottom line was that Johnson’s family had been left hurt and offended by Trump’s remarks. The president’s sentiment, that Johnson “knew what he signed up for,” was inappropriate for a grieving widow, Wilson said.
That Johnson’s body was left behind and not recovered until two days after the initial attack was especially concerning, Wilson said, and further proof that the consolation offered to Kelly when his son died was inappropriate for Johnson’s family. “He was abandoned for two days, for 48 hours. Why?” she said. “Why didn't they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades, and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety. He could have still been alive.”
“That is not a good message to say to anyone who has lost a child at war. You don't sign up because you knew you're going to die. You sign up to serve your country,” she said. “There's nothing to misinterpret. He said what he said. I just don't agree with it. I don't agree that that is what you should say to grieving families.”
"Curiously"? As in curious Kelly doesn't seem bothered by Trump's behavior?
