{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/adams-butterfield-blast-trump-over-gold-star-widow-flap", "Adams, Butterfield blast Trump over Gold Star widow flap", "2017-10-26", "2017", "2017-10", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Alma Adams", "A000370", "adams.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "In the midst of last week\u2019s blazing controversy concerning President Donald Trump\u2019s alleged insensitive remarks to a Gold Star widow upon her husband\u2019s death, and the president and Chief of Staff John Kelly\u2019s lambasting of a Florida congresswoman who criticized\u00a0 Trump afterward, both North Carolina black congressional members are outraged, and say the White House owes apologies to the dead soldier\u2019s family, the congresswoman and the nation.  \n\t\u201cIt is embarrassing that this administration is more concerned about belittling a sitting congresswoman than getting answers for the families of these fallen heroes,\u201d U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC-12) said in a statement Monday.\nAdams and her North Carolina colleague, U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1), joined the chorus of criticism against Trump, Kelly (who is also a retired four-star Marine general who lost his son in combat in 2010), and the rest of the administration for effectively calling U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla) a liar when she alleged that on a condolence call to Myeshia Johnson, the pregnant widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed during an Oct. 4th ambush in the African country of Niger with three colleagues, that Trump matter-of-factly told Mrs. Johnson by speakerphone on Oct. 17, \u201c \u2026he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway\u2026,\u201d and didn\u2019t even refer to her late husband by name.\n\u201cThat\u2019s what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country, and he risked his life for our country, why can\u2019t you remember his name? And that\u2019s what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier,\u201d Mrs. Johnson told ABC News on Monday.\nTrump, in a series of angry tweets, denied saying that, and Gen. Kelly then publicly blasted Congresswoman Wilson, calling her \u201can empty barrel\u201d during a White House briefing last week.  \n\tRep. Adams wasn\u2019t having it.\n\u201cRep. Wilson has been a principled leader and servant to her South Florida constituents, many of whom she\u2019s come to love like family, for decades,\u201d Adams says. \u201cShe continued this record of service last week when she visited with the family of fallen hero Sergeant La David Johnson, who graduated from her mentorship program 5000 Role Models of Excellence. While President Trump spent the weekend at his golf course tweeting about football, Rep. Wilson attended Sergeant Johnson\u2019s funeral and continues to call for answers to what happened in Niger.\u201d  \n\tRep. Wilson has also been a leading proponent of rescuing 276 school girls from the Nigerian town of Chibok who were kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram in April 2014.  \n\tCongressman Butterfield was just as flabbergasted.\n\u201cI find it appalling that President Trump was unable to simply offer condolences to a Gold Star wife and express gratitude for the sacrifice her husband made on behalf of our nation.\u00a0 Instead, he decided to not only attack a sitting member of Congress in an attempt to impugn her integrity, but today he had the audacity to attack Sgt. La David Johnson\u2019s grieving widow on her account of their phone call. \u00a0I stand with Congresswoman Wilson, who is a dedicated public servant, and I believe the White House owes her an apology for their petty insults and false statements.\u201d  \n\tAdding more proverbial salt to the open wound, Gen. Kelly went on at that press briefing to strongly suggest that Wilson was a lying showoff who previously boasted about raising the money needed to get a new FBI building built in Florida in 2015. A video of the event actually proved Kelly wrong (Wilson wasn\u2019t even in Congress when that money was appropriated), but that didn\u2019t stop President Trump from still attacking Rep. Wilson as \u201cwacky\u201d and a liability to Democrats.\nOn Monday, Mrs. Johnson, a day after burying her husband, confirmed to ABC News Congresswoman Wilson\u2019s version of events, further indicating that she felt the president disrespected her late husband\u2019s memory, leaving her \u201cangry and in tears.\u201d\nAll of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) was livid with the White House, but on Monday, Congresswoman Adams led the female members of the CBC in standing up for their colleague, Rep. Wilson.\n\u201cWe were appalled by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly\u2019s statements where he called Congresswoman Wilson an \u2018empty barrel\u2019 and accused her of taking credit for securing funding for a new FBI Building in Miramar, Florida \u2026,\u201d the CBC women\u2019s statement said.  \n\t\u201cGeneral Kelly\u2019s comments are reprehensible,\u201d it continued. \u201cCongresswoman Wilson\u2019s integrity and credibility should not be challenged or undermined by such blatant lies. We, the women of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly stand with Congresswoman Wilson and demand that General Kelly apologize to her without delay and take responsibility for his reckless and false statements.\u201d\nMeanwhile, news is just starting to filter out of Niger this week as to exactly what happened in the Oct. 4 ambush that claimed the four American servicemen\u2019s lives. U.S. Rep. Butterfield says that is what the president, and the nation, should be focused on.  \n\t\u201cWe should be mourning the passing of Sgt. La David Johnson and honoring his service to our country,\u201d Butterfield said. \u201cI offer my sincerest condolences to Sgt. La David Johnson\u2019s wife and pray that she and Sgt. Johnson\u2019s family find peace in this tragedy.\u201d\n\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/adams-butterfield-blast-trump-over-gold-star-widow-flap"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.079097157344222, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}