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  • 2017-10-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Myeshia Johnson Accuse Rep. Frederica Wilson of Using Her Husband 'As a Political Platform'? (en)
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  • Conservative social media users circulated an image of a purported Facebook post from 17 October 2017 which they said showed Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson accusing Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) of exploiting a presidential condolence call over the death of her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, for political gain: The picture allegedly depicts a post from Myeshia Johnson's Facebook page dated 17 October 2017 at 3:27 p.m. saying: A phone call from President Donald Trump to Johnson is at the center of what has become a public dispute between Johnson and the Trump administration. But the validity of the screenshot is doubtful. While the date of the post corresponds with that of the 17 October 2017 condolence call, the time listed is actually more than an hour before the reported time of President Trump's phone call, which was 4:45 p.m. Eastern time. Also, the picture shows a Facebook profile bearing a square profile picture. But the social media site implemented an update in August 2017 that changed the shape of users' profile pictures in the Facebook newsfeed from square to round, as seen in this example from the Snopes.com Facebook page (top left): La David Johnson was killed while serving in Niger on 4 October 2017, in what has been described as an ambush by Islamic insurgents. Three other U.S. service members, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, were also killed in the attack, as were four Nigerien troops. Rep. Wilson said she was riding with the Army sergeant's widow and members of her family to receive his body when the President called, telling CNN host Don Lemon that night: Wilson accused Trump of being insensitive not only to La David Johnson's family but to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom. The sergeant's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, has corroborated Wilson's account of the phone call, saying that President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband. President Trump responded by denying what Rep. Wilson had claimed: On 23 October 2017, Myeshia Johnson told ABC News that Wilson was 100 percent in her description of the phone call. She said: But while President Trump suggested he had proof to support his account of events, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the call had not been not recorded. Instead, Sanders said, Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly and other White House staff members were near President Trump when he phone Myeshia Johnson and heard what he said. For his part, Kelly called Wilson an empty barrel and accused her of taking credit in 2015 for the funding of a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Miami, a claim that was debunked by footage of Wilson's remarks that was posted online on 20 October 2017. Despite Sanders' statement that the president's conversation with Myeshia Johnson was not recorded, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and host of a Facebook broadcast devoted to what his administration calls real news, asserted on 20 October 2017 that she had read a transcript of the call which confirmed Trump spoke the words in question, albeit with additional context: Wilson came under additional criticism after she responded to Kelly's allegations by exclaiming that You mean to tell me that I've become so important that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That's amazing. I'll have to tell my kids that I'm a rockstar now. Two days earlier, Rep. Wilson had issued a statement reading: We reached out to Rep. Wilson for comment but have not yet received a response. (en)
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