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Pentagon Promises Niger Probe
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Joseph Dunford on Monday laid out a timeline of a deadly October 4 ambush in which five soldiers from Niger and four U.S. troops were killed while on patrol, promising the military would conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. The general’s explanation came as the widow of U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson spoke out against Donald Trump’s handling of the aftermath of the attack, saying that during a condolence call the president couldn’t remember the name of her husband. In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday, Myeshia Johnson reaffirmed that she and others heard President Trump say, “He knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway”—refuting President Trump’s claim that the remark was “totally fabricated.”
Myeshia Johnson: “And it made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said—he couldn’t remember my husband’s name. The only way he remembered my husband’s name, because he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him. And that’s when he actually said 'La David.' I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name. And that’s 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’t you remember his name?”
Trump responded on Twitter, “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” Myeshia Johnson also said she wasn’t allowed to view her husband’s body, and demanded answers about how he died during a patrol in Niger on October 4. We’ll have more on the Niger attack and the growing U.S. troop presence in Africa after headlines.