Trump defends call to fallen soldier's widow

October 23, 2017 12:00 am • Last Updated: October 23, 2017 9:30 am

By Catherine Lucey, Associated Press

In this Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017, file photo, Myeshia Johnson kisses the casket of her husband, Sgt. La David Johnson during his burial service at Fred Hunter's Hollywood Memorial Gardens in Hollywood, Fla. Myeshia Johnson told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday, Oct. 23, 2017, that she has nothing to say to the president, adding that his phone call to her made "me cry even worse." (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP, File)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is defending his call to a fallen soldier's widow, saying he was "respectful" and did not forget the slain soldier's name.

Trump addressed the call on Twitter Monday after Myeshia Johnson, La David Johnson's widow, appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America." She said that in Trump's call to her last week he "couldn't remember my husband's name."

Johnson added: "The only way he could remember my husband's name was he told me he had my husband's report in front of him and that's when he actually said La David."

On Twitter, Trump said: "I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!"

Johnson and three comrades died Oct. 4 in Africa in an attack.

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