White House Doubles Down On Miami Area Congresswoman

MIAMI, FL — The White House doubled down on former Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly's comments concerning Miami area Congresswoman Frederica Wilson on Friday after video released by the South Florida Sun Sentinel appeared to show Wilson did not make any of the self-aggrandizing kinds of statements at a 2015 dedication ceremony that Kelly accused her of just one day earlier.

"General 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," explained White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a Friday afternoon press briefing. "As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you are 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 more simply as we say in the South: 'All hat, no cattle.'"

Video of Wilson's speech at the dedication of the FBI building in South Florida showed that much of the congresswoman's remarks focused on the two slain FBI agents for whom the building was being named and did not appear to be the self-congratulatory speech that White House Chief of Staff Kelly described on Thursday though she did say she pushed for an expedited naming of the facility.

Also See: Dispute Persists On White House Condolence Call

"She also had quite a few comments that day that weren't part of that speech and weren't part of that video that were also witnessed by many people that were there — what Gen. Kelly referenced yesterday — exactly what he said," Huckabee Sanders insisted. "There was a lot of grandstanding. He was stunned that she had taken that opportunity to make it about herself."

Wilson has been at odds with the White House over her characterization of a condolence call made by President Trump to the grief-stricken widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four U.S. servicemen killed during an ambush attack in southwest Niger by dozens of Islamic extremists on Oct. 4.

The congresswoman listened in to the call with family members over a speakerphone on the way to meet Johnson's body at Miami International Airport earlier this week and later criticized the president as being "insensitive" to the soldier's pregnant widow, Myeshia Johnson. The congresswoman's account was subsequently verified by Johnson's mother, who was also in the limousine at the time, according to a report in The Washington Post.

"I was not even in Congress when the funding was secured for that building. I was a member of the Florida Senate," Wilson told Local 10 on Friday with respect to the dedication of the FBI building. She added that she is not bothered by the administration's attempts to discredit her. "I've been in this game a long time. I have very thick skin and that's just like water over the bridge as far as I'm concerned," she said.

Meanwhile, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rose to Wilson's defense on ABC's "The View," taking issue with the president's assertion that it was inappropriate for Wilson to be listening in on the call. "The fact that they would put a president's call on a speakerphone is not unusual and I am sure there were other people listening at the White House as well because it's historic, that call from the president," Pelosi said.

Also See: Rep. Wilson Stands By Remarks On Trump's Call To Widow

Friday's continued war of words came as the Johnson family was preparing to say good-bye to their fallen hero at a visitation set from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday at Christ the Rock Community Church in Cooper City, Florida. A service was scheduled for 11 a.m Saturday at the same church.

A GoFundMe page had raised more than $614,000 toward a scholarship program for Johnson's children as of Friday afternoon. The GoFundMe page said that the area where Johnson was killed was "overwhelmed by Boko Haram."

Huckabee Sanders drew criticism when she suggested that it would be "highly inappropriate" for reporters to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general.

She said that President Trump's five-minute phone conversation with Johnson's widow was meant to be respectful and sympathetic.

"Certainly if the spirit of which those comments were intended were misunderstood that's very unfortunate," she said. "As the president has said, as Gen. Kelly said — who I think has a very deep understanding of what that individual would be going through — his comments were very sympathetic, very respectful and that was the spirit in which the president intended them. If they were taken any other way that's certainly an unfortunate thing."

Photo of Congresswoman Frederica Wilson by Joe Skipper/Getty Images