WASHINGTON _ A video released Friday shows White House chief of staff John Kelly was incorrect when he accused a Democratic congresswoman from Miami of bragging about securing money for her district during a 2015 ceremony devoted to a pair of slain FBI agents.
The video of the April 15, 2015, remarks by Rep. Frederica Wilson shows she praised the agents at the center of the dedication ceremony for the new FBI field office in Miramar. And while she touted her role in passing a bill to name the building after agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove during a broader tribute to the two men, the video posted Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel shows she never took credit for the tax dollars that went into the project _ as Kelly had stated Thursday in the White House briefing room, calling her an "empty barrel" making noise amid a solemn ceremony for the heroes.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not dispute Kelly's inaccurate account of Wilson's speech in a statement on Friday.
"Gen. Kelly said he was 'stunned' that Rep. Wilson made comments at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents about her own actions in Congress, including lobbying former President Obama on legislation," Huckabee Sanders said. "As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes about yourself, you're an empty barrel."
The footage posted by the Sun Sentinel begins mid-sentence for Wilson, who is recognizing fellow members of Congress in the audience.
In her remarks, Wilson did call passing her bill so quickly "a miracle, to say the least," thanks to her and colleagues being in "attack mode." But she also spent significant time praising the agents who Kelly said on Thursday had deserved the attention that day.
"Today it is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the streets of South Florida and place their names and pictures high where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, sacrifice for our nation," she said in the video.
"It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters FBI. Because Special Agent Grogan and Dove embody the sacred motto of which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity. Bravery. And integrity.
"God bless you," she said at the close, drawing a standing ovation. "God bless the FBI. And God bless America."
Kelly launched a highly specific attack on Wilson without mentioning her by name during a 20-minute speech at the White House on Thursday, accusing the Miami Gardens Democrat of politicizing the death of a soldier and taking undue credit for the FBI building during a solemn ceremony.
"A congresswoman stood up, and in a long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million, to build the building, and she sat down," Kelly told reporters.
Documents show that the money for the project was allocated by Congress before Wilson arrived in Congress in 2011. Wilson told the Miami Herald on Thursday that Kelly was lying.
"He shouldn't be able to just say that. That is terrible," Wilson said. "This has become totally personal."
The video posted Friday backs up Wilson's remarks that came after days of back-and-forth between the Miami-area congresswoman and President Donald Trump. Trump accused Wilson of misrepresenting a call to the family for Sgt. La David Johnson, who was killed during an Oct. 4 ambush in Niger.
Wilson was in the car with Johnson's family when Trump called and said it was insensitive for the president to say that "he knew what he signed up for ... but when it happens it hurts anyway" to Johnson's family.
"I think it's so insensitive. It's crazy. Why do you need to say that?" Wilson told the Miami Herald. "You don't say that to someone who lost family, the father, the breadwinner. You can say, 'I'm so sorry for your loss. He's a hero.'"
The Miami Herald first reported Kelly's flawed rendition of Wilson's remarks at the 2015 dedication of the new federal building in Miramar, in Broward County. The White House issued a statement Thursday night saying it stood by Kelly's version of the event. After the Herald story published, President Donald Trump tweeted a statement accusing the "Fake News" of "going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!"
About thirty minutes later, at 11:25 p.m., White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted: "Thank God we have patriots like General John Kelly serving our country."
Wilson wants Congress and the White House to find out why it took 48 hours for Johnson's body to be located after the ambush.
"Why do you think they (the White House) are continuing all of this?" Wilson said. "Think about what they should be doing. They should be trying to find out why Sgt. La David Johnson was separated from his battalion for two days."
