what that individual would be going through, his comments were very sympathetic, very respectful and that was the spirit in which the president intended them. if they were taken another way, that is unfortunate. one thing the white house has stopped doing, trace is arguing the did not say what it s alleged he said in the telephone. they re saying his remarks about the fact that johnson knew what he was getting into and kelly went through all that yesterday. may have been misconstrued. sarah huckabee sanders saying today that she s surprised this thing is still going. we should point out discrepancy with what general kelly remembered and said yesterday and appeared to actually happen of the dedication of the fbi people is what has been driving the coverage today, trace. fuelling it a bit. john roberts, thank you. let s get more on the deadly attack in niger earlier this month. the pentagon under immense pressure for more answers about exactly what happened.
overnight and the next morning, the department of defense still said we re not ready to confirm what s going on. the statement drafted late into the night and early in the morning being held until the dod gave confirmation. the department of defense called and noon that said we can confirm the details. go ahead and release the statement. at to point, about noon, the white house said rather than putting something out on paper, let s make it more personal. they drafted a statement for sarah huckabee sanders to read that afternoon. there was a narrative going on that the white house sat on this for a long time. but if it was sat on, it was for a matter of minutes a couple hours. there s a question as to why it took a long time for the president to finally weigh-in on this. you can bet that he s probably in frequent contact with his secretary of defense wanting to know what happened here so he has clarity on it the next time
house correspondent john roberts on the north lawn. john? trace, good afternoon. the press secretary, sarah huckabee sanders, was asked about niger and the investigation and what happened in the incident a couple weeks ago. refused every time to answer the question in specificity citing the ongoing review. any time a u.s. service member is called in an operation. certainly sarah huckabee sanders had plenty to say in regard to the feud that is ongoing between the white house and florida democratic congress woman frederica wilson. yesterday you ll remember the chief of staff john kelly came out and ripped congresswoman wilson up one side and down the other for listening in the condolence call the president made to the widow of sergeant johnson and making it public. kelly suggested in 2015 when wilson was speaking at the dedication of the new fbi field office in miramar, chefs making it about her and how she got
in the south we say all hat, no cattle. they re suggesting at the white house during the day outside of the venue where she made the speech, she was tooting her own horn and grandstanding other issues. trace? it wasn t just the congresswoman saying this. no. the aunt that was the woman who brought up sergeant ladavid johnson after his mother died was critical of it as well saying she agreed with the congresswoman and the president was insensitive in his remarks. sarah huckabee sanders for the first time addressed that this afternoon. let s listen here. if the spirit of which those comments were intended were misunderstood, that s very unfortunate. as the president has said, as general kelly said who i think has a very deep understanding of