Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly promised he’d “never” apologize to Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson for calling her an “empty barrel” after she publicly criticized President Trump’s words during a condolence call to a slain soldier’s wife earlier this month, telling Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Monday night, “I stand by my comments.”
Kelly's statement comes after some have demanded he apologize to the congresswoman for his supposedly insensitive remarks.
“Do you feel like you have something to apologize for?” Ingraham asked.
“No. Never,” Kelly responded Monday. “I’ll apologize if I need to. But for something like that, absolutely not. I stand by my comments.”
The Florida congresswoman had said she felt like a “rock star” for all the attention she’s gotten over criticizing President Trump for allegedly disrespecting a Gold Star, then slamming Kelly, himself a Gold Star father, for defending the president.
Kelly, who lost his own Marine son in 2010, fired back at the congresswoman during a press briefing two weeks ago for politicizing the president's attempt to console and honor the slain soldier's wife, saying he was “stunned” that a member of Congress would use such a sacred moment as a political football.
“I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing,” a clearly emotional Kelly told reporters. “A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife — and in his way tried to express that opinion that he’s a brave man, a fallen hero.”
“[Johnson] knew what he was getting himself into because he enlisted,” Kelly continued. “There’s no reason to enlist. He enlisted, and he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. That was the message.”
In response to Kelly's remarks, Wilson tactlessly accused the Chief of Staff of pandering to "keep his job."
“John Kelly’s trying to keep his job,” Wilson told POLITICO . “He will say anything. There were other people who heard what I heard.”
The tit-for-tat landed Kelly in slightly lukewarm water after a few race-baiters accused him of racism for calling Wilson an “empty barrel” for attempting to gain notoriety from the story of a dead soldier’s widow.