Trump defends comments to widow of solider who 'knew what he signed up for'

Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to dispute claims made by a war widow that he couldn’t remember her husband’s name and made her feel worse.

The widow of US Sergeant La David T. Johnson, who was killed in Niger this month, said a phone call from Trump made her "cry even worse" after the president said he "knew what he signed up for".

Myeshia Johnson's comments fuelled a controversy that has raged for a week over how the president has handled consoling relatives of slain service members.

After the interview aired, Trump again defended himself, saying in a Twitter post that his conversation with Johnson had been "very respectful."

President Trump disputed claims he couldn't remember Sergeant Johnson's name when he phoned his widow.

In the "Good Morning America" interview, Johnson also said she has been told little about how her husband, Sergeant La David T. Johnson, was killed and has not been allowed to see his body.

La David Johnson was one of four US Army special forces soldiers killed during an October 4 ambush in the West African nation.

Last week, a member of the US House of Representatives and friend of Johnson's family, Frederica Wilson, said she listened to the call on speakerphone in a car as she rode with them to receive the late sergeant's body at a Miami airport, and that Trump had upset the relatives.

That drew a rebuke from the president, who dubbed Wilson "wacky" and denied her account. "I didn't say what that congresswoman said," Trump told reporters last week. "I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who ... sounded like a lovely woman."

In Monday's interview, Myeshia Johnson said, "The president said that he (her husband) knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway ... And it made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he couldn't remember my husband's name."

Johnson kisses her husband's casket at his burial service on Saturday in Florida. Source: Reuters

In his tweet after the interview aired, 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 said the military has told her little about what happened to her husband and his comrades in Niger, where about 800 US troops are engaged in counter-terrorism operations against an affiliate of the Islamic State militant group.

She also said she was upset she has not been allowed to see his body. "I don't know what's in that box," said of the coffin. "It could be empty for all I know."

Johnson said she did not say anything during the call with the president, adding that afterward, she was "very upset and hurt. It made me cry even worse."

Asked what she might now tell Trump, she said she had "nothing to say to him."