Wilson on Kelly Criticism: ‘He Can’t Lie on Me’
Florida Democrat says she has received threatening calls from white nationalists
Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson said Friday that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly lied Thursday about her involvement in funding for an FBI building in her district.
“He can’t just go on TV and lie on me,” Wilson told CNN Friday morning.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Kelly accused Wilson of bragging that she obtained federal funds for a new FBI building in Miami. But the money was in fact approved before Wilson came to Congress.
In fact, Wilson sponsored the legislation to name the building after two agents, Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, who were killed in a shootout with robbers in Miami.
“However, I named the building at the behest of Director Comey,” Wilson said of then-FBI Director James B. Comey, whom Trump fired in May. “So he needs to tell the truth and he needs to stop telling lies on me.”
“He shouldn’t be able to just say that, that is terrible,” Wilson, D-Florida, said Thursday, the Miami Herald reported. “This has become totally personal.”
Kelly rebuked Wilson Thursday during for sharing the contents of the president’s call with the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson, who was one of four soldiers killed in Niger.
President Donald Trump called the Florida Democrat “wacky” in a tweet late Thursday, and said she was “SECRETLY on a very personal call.”
The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2017
In response, Wilson tweeted simply “sticks and stones.”
Sticks and stones…
— Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 20, 2017
Wilson was with Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, when Trump called her shortly after his body was returned to Miami International Airport.
The congresswoman was able to listen to the call since Myeshia Johnson took it on the car’s speaker phone while she was driving.
Wilson said Thursday at Miami Dade College’s North Campus in her district that she had received threatening phone calls from white nationalists, WSVN reported, and that authorities had been notified, but that she had plenty of security.
And she joked, “You mean to tell me that I’ve become so important that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That’s amazing. I’ll have to tell my kids that I’m a rock star now.”
