General John Kelly revealed to reporters during Thursday’s White House press briefing that he visited Arlington National Cemetery to collect his thoughts after hearing Democrat Rep. Wilson’s criticism of President Trump’s phone call to Gold Star widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson.
Kelly said he walked around Arlington National Cemetery to collect his thoughts after hearing the Democrat lawmakers’ criticism of President Trump’s call.
Kelly says he walked around Arlington National Cemetery to collect his thoughts after hearing lawmakers' criticism of Pres. Trump's call. pic.twitter.com/YmrqF1HhDb
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 19, 2017
GEN. KELLY: “It stuns me that a member of Congress would listen in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought, at least that was sacred. You know, when I was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country, women were sacred and looked upon with great honor. That’s obviously not the case any more as we see from recent cases. Life, the dignity of life, was sacred. That’s gone. Religion — that seems to be gone as well. Gold Star families, I think that left at the convention over the summer. But I just thought, self-devotion, that brings a man or woman to die on the battle field, I just thought that, that might be sacred. And when I listen to what this woman was saying, what she was doing on TV, the only thing I could do to collect my thoughts, is to go walk among the finest men and women on this earth — and you can always find them, because they’re at Arlington National Cemetery. I went over there for an hour and a half, walked among the stones, some of whom I put there, because they were doing what I told them to do when they were killed.”
General Kelly WENT OFF on Rep. Wilson on Thursday during the White House Press Briefing.
James Kelly told the reporters, “I was stunned… That this representative listened in on a phone call from a president to a widow.”
General Kelly: I was stunned when I came to work tomorrow morning and broken-hearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the President of the United States to a young wife and in his way tried to express that opinion. He is a brave man.
Kelly called Rep. Wilson an “empty barrel.”
Gen. Kelly called Fredrica Wilson an “empty barrel”
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) October 19, 2017
