Soldier's Widow Says Trump Couldn't Even Remember Her Husband's Name in Condolence Call

Welcome to WHAT NOW, a morning round-up of the news/fresh horrors that await you today.

In her first interview since a scandal ignited over President Trump’s handling of her Army sergeant husband’s death in Niger, Myeshia Johnson said on Monday that Trump couldn’t even remember La David Johnson’s name when he placed the customary call to offer condolences to her.

“It made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of [Trump’s] voice,” Johnson said on Good Morning America about the now-infamous call, which she and Rep. Frederica Wilson received en route to the airport to meet her husband’s body. “He couldn’t remember my husband’s name…I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most.”

She continued: “He risked his life for our country, why can’t you remember his name?”

Johnson also backed Wilson’s account of the call, saying Trump said her husband “‘knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyways,’” and that Wilson’s telling “was 100% correct.”

Here’s the full interview.

After Wilson recounted the call to local media in Florida, Trump repeatedly fired back before sending his chief of staff John Kelly, himself a Gold Star parent, out to tell lies about Wilson for him.

Following the segment airing this morning, Trump tweeted that he spoke the soldier’s name “without hesitation.”

WHAT ELSE?

• So, the Air Force is reportedly preparing to put the United States’ nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a state not seen since the Cold War.
• The Environmental Protection Agency canceled three scientists’ appearances on a panel about climate change today in Rhode Island.
• Special Counsel Robert Mueller is apparently now investigating super-lobbyist Tony Podesta and his Democratic-leaning Podesta Group.

WHAT’S NEXT?

• Bowe Bergdahl’s sentencing hearing begins today. He faces life in prison after entering a guilty plea on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
• The Trump administration is expected to officially declare the opiate crisis a national public health emergency on Thursday, months after blindsiding officials by declaring he would do so, Axios reports.

For more news and opinions that get under your skin, follow Splinter on Facebook.