Trump: ‘Wacky’ Wilson will turn voters into Republicans

Donald Trump hasn’t let up in his attacks on a black Democratic congresswoman in the wake of a mini-scandal over military condolence calls, labeling her ‘wacky’ and suggesting her barbs aimed at him are a political ploy that is doomed to backfire.

Rep. Frederica Wilson has seen her national profile explode in the past week after she accused the president of being insensitive while he tried to comfort the grieving widow of a soldier killed in a Niger ambush. 

‘Wacky Congresswoman Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving for the Republican Party, a disaster for Dems. You watch her in action & vote R!’ Trump tweeted Sunday.

On Saturday he tweeted that he hopes ‘the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson’ – whom he claimed ‘is killing the Democrat Party!’

President Donald Trump says Rep. Frederica Wilson (right), who has been in week-long fight with him that began over the death of four soldiers in Niger, will be a political disaster for Democrats

‘You watch her in action & vote R[epublican],’ Trump predicted of Wilson, a Florida Democrat

The late Sgt. La David Johnson’s pregnant widow, Myeisha Johnson, carried a folded American flag in her arms and kissed the top of her husband’s coffin during his funeral at Memorial Gardens East cemetery in Hollywood, Florida

Trump also retweeted a picture of Wilson posing with former President Barack Obama, suggesting that the controversy was ginned up to score partisan points.

‘People get what is going on!’ he wrote.

Wilson listened in on a phone call Trump placed to La David Johnson’s widow, and said the president made her feel disrespected.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, himself a Gold Star father, unloaded on Wilson last week for ‘grandstanding’ during an FBI building dedication ceremony years earlier.

Kelly claimed Wilson took credit for securing the federal money to build the structure, blasting her Thursday in an emotional White House statement as an ’empty barrel.’

Video of the event shows that while she talked up her own efforts to name the building after two fallen FBI agents, her claims that day stopped short of being a would-be pork barrel rainmaker.

The White House said it was ‘inappropriate’ to criticize Kelly, and brought up his status as a retired four-star general. 

‘Gen. Kelly said he was stunned that Representative Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress including lobbying former President Obama on legislation,’ press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.

 

Trump hasn’t let up on Wilson, tweeting about her Saturday – including a photo of her with former president Barack Obama – adding: ‘People get what is going on!’

The White House chief of staff, Kelly, pictured, and the Florida congresswoman are wrapped up in a mushrooming dispute over the president’s condolence call earlier this week to a soldier’s family that Wilson says was inappropriate; Kelly called her a noisy ’empty barrel’ 

‘As General Kelly pointed out, if you’re able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes all about yourself, you’re an empty barrel. If you don’t understand that reference, I’ll put it a little bit more simply. As we say in the South, all hat, no cattle.’

Wilson, 74, is known for wearing colorful cowboy hats in public and on television. 

‘If you want to go after General Kelly, that’s up to you,’ Sanders warned reporters.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders cautioned reporters not to get into a war of words with Kelly, who is a retured four-star U.S. Marine Corps general

‘But I think that if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that’s something highly inappropriate.’

Trump gushed about Kelly in a Sunday interview on the Fox Business Network.

‘He is a very elegant man. He is a tough, strong four-star Marine. You’re a four-star Marine, you’ve got something special to start off with, OK? … He was so offended, because he was in the room when I made the call and so were other people. And the call was a very nice call. He was so offended that a woman would be — that somebody would be listening to that call,’ Trump said.

‘Actually, he said to me, “Sir, this is not acceptable. This is really not”.’

‘And he knew – I was so nice. Look, I’ve called many people. And I would think that every one of them appreciated it. I was very surprised to see this to be honest with you,’ he said. 

Trump also insisted that he mentioned Sgt. Johnson’s name when he called his widow, although he did not use Johnson’s name in the retelling.

The other three soldiers killed in Niger are (left to right): Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright

Trump allegedly told Myeshia Johnson (left, with Johnson) in a phone call that her husband ‘knew what he signed up for’ and didn’t appear to know his name, a version later backed up by Johnson’s aunt (right, with Johnson)

‘And by the way, I spoke of the name of the young man and I – it was a really – it’s a very tough call. Those are the toughest calls,’ he said.

‘These are very, very hard calls. They’re sad. And sometimes, you know, the grieving is so incredible. But he’s just an elegant man and a wonderful man and he’s doing a fantastic job as chief,’ Trump said. 

During her remarks, she acknowledged ‘my colleagues in Congress’ and asked some of them to stand. 

She even acknowledges it was the FBI’s idea – mentioning Republicans and Democrats who assisted.

Within her state, she called Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart someone ‘who has always advocated for the issues that impact our community.’

She hailed fellow lawmakers, saying they ‘all helped move this bill.’