Trump jabs back at 'wacky' congresswoman as spat rolls on

WASHINGTON -- Unwilling to put the tussling behind, President Donald Trump on Saturday jabbed back at the Democratic lawmaker who has slammed him for his words of condolence to a military widow, calling Rep. Frederica Wilson "wacky" and contending she is "killing" her party.

Trump's broadside came a day after the White House defended chief of staff John Kelly after he mischaracterized Wilson's remarks and called her an "empty barrel" making noise. A Trump spokeswoman said it was "inappropriate" to question Kelly in light of his stature as a retired four-star general.

The fight between Trump and the Miami-area Democrat began Tuesday when she said Trump told the pregnant widow of a service member killed in the African nation of Niger her 25-year-old husband "knew what he signed up for." Wilson was riding with the family of Sgt. La David Johnson to meet the body and heard the call on speakerphone.

The administration has attempted to insist it's long past time to end the political squabbling over Trump's compassion for America's war dead.

But Trump added to the volley of insults with his tweet Saturday morning: "I hope the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she, as a representative, is killing the Democrat Party!" That came after she had added a new element by suggesting a racial context.

His tweet came hours before mourners were to attend Johnson's funeral in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Kelly asserted the congresswoman had delivered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she "talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building," rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents for which it was named. Video of the speech contradicted his recollection.

Wilson, in an interview Friday with The New York Times, brought race into the dispute.

"The White House itself is full of white supremacists," said Wilson, who is black, as is the Florida family Trump had called in a condolence effort last week that led to the back-and-forth name calling.

Trump, in an interview with Fox Business Network, then called Wilson's criticism of Kelly "sickening." He also said he had had a "very nice call," with the late sergeant's family.

The spat started when Wilson told reporters that Trump had insulted the family of Johnson, who was killed two weeks ago in Niger. She was fabricating that, Trump said. The soldier's widow and aunt said no, it was the president who was fibbing.

Then Kelly strode out in the White House briefing room on Thursday, backing up the president and suggesting Wilson was just grandstanding -- as he said she had at the FBI dedication in 2015.

After news accounts took issue with part of that last accusation, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders chastised reporters for questioning the account of a decorated general.

"If you want to go after General Kelly, that's up to you," she said. "But I think that if you want to get into a debate with a four-star Marine general, I think that that's something highly inappropriate."

Video of the FBI office dedication in Miami, from the archives of South Florida's Sun-Sentinel, shows that Wilson never mentioned the building's funding, though she did recount at length her efforts to help name the building in honor of the special agents.

That did nothing to deter Sanders, who said "If you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes about yourself, you're an empty barrel."

Sanders also used a dismissive Southwest rancher's term, calling Wilson, who often wears elaborate hats, "all hat and no cattle."

Wilson was in the car with the family of Johnson, who died in an Oct. 4 ambush that killed four American soldiers in Niger, when Trump called to express his condolences on Tuesday. She said in an interview that Trump had told Johnson's widow that "you know that this could happen when you signed up for it ... but it still hurts." Johnson's aunt, who raised the soldier from a young age, said the family took that remark to be disrespectful.

The Defense Department is investigating the details of the Niger ambush, in which Islamic militants on motorcycles brought rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing the four and wounding others. The FBI said it is assisting, as it has in the past when American citizens are killed overseas.

Sanders said Friday that if the "spirit" in which Trump's comments "were intended were misunderstood, that's very unfortunate."