US President Donald Trump says a claim that he made insensitive remarks to the recently bereaved widow of a soldier is "totally fabricated".
Sgt La David Johnson was among four US special service soldiers killed in Niger by Islamist militants this month. Photo: AFP
Congresswoman Frederica Wilson said he had told Myeshia Johnson: "He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway."
The Democratic lawmaker said she was shocked by the alleged comments.
Sgt La David Johnson was among four US special service soldiers killed in Niger by Islamist militants this month.
Mr Trump had already been criticised for not contacting the families of the dead servicemen right after the fatal ambush on 4 October.
Trump responds
The president tweeted on Wednesday morning: "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!"
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 18, 2017
Mr Trump has yet to provide any evidence.
A White House official said Mr Trump's conversations with the families of dead servicemen were private.
Mr Trump later told reporters: "I did not say what she [Ms Wilson] said... I had a very nice conversation."
When asked about what "proof" he could offer, Trump said: "Let her make her statement again, then you will find out."
What do his accusers say?
Ms Wilson, who represents a Florida district, told CNN the president's call had been made shortly before Sgt Johnson's coffin arrived by aircraft in Miami.
Sgt. La David Johnson is a hero. @realDonaldTrump does not possess the character, empathy or grace to be president of the United States.
— Rep Frederica Wilson (@RepWilson) October 18, 2017
Ms Wilson told WPLG, a Miami TV station, she had heard the president's "so insensitive" remarks to the widow on speakerphone in a limousine.
"Yeah, he [President Trump] said that," Ms Wilson said. "To me, that is something that you can say in a conversation, but you shouldn't say that to a grieving widow.
"And everyone knows when you go to war, you could possibly not come back alive. But you don't remind a grieving widow of that."
Ms Wilson told the Washington Post that Ms Johnson, who is expecting the couple's third child, had broken down in tears after the conversation.
"He made her cry," Ms Wilson said.
The congresswoman told the newspaper that she had wanted to grab the phone and "curse him out", but an army sergeant who was holding the handset would not let her speak to the president.
She later responded to Mr Trump's denial by tweeting: "I stand my account of the call with @realDonaldTrump and was not the only one who heard and was dismayed by his insensitive remarks."
And Sgt Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told the Washington Post newspaper that President Trump "did disrespect my son".
She said she was present during the call from the White House on Tuesday, and stood by Ms Wilson's account of the call.
"I didn't hear the whole phone call, but I did hear him say: 'I'm sure he knew what he was signing up for, but it still hurts'," she told CNN.
How did the row begin?
Mr Trump has been on the defensive over the deaths in Niger since a reporter asked him at the White House on Monday why he had still not called the families.
He provoked fury by falsely claiming that his predecessor, Barack Obama, and other former US presidents had not called the relatives of dead service members.
Mr Trump also said he had written letters to the families of the four killed in Niger and planned to call them soon.
The White House later said the president had spoken to the families but it did not say when.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump ratcheted up the row by suggesting that President Obama had not called the family of Mr Trump's chief of staff, Gen John Kelly, when his son was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
The Associated Press says that like presidents before him, Mr Trump has made personal contact with some families of dead soldiers - but not all.
"What's different is that Trump, alone among them, has picked a political fight over who's done better to honour the war dead and their families," the news agency reports.
"He placed himself at the top of this pantheon, boasting Tuesday that 'I think I've called every family of someone who's died' while past presidents didn't place such calls."
This is not the first time Mr Trump has found himself in an imbroglio over US veterans.
As presidential candidate, he mocked Senator John McCain for having been captured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
He also engaged in a racially charged feud with the parents of decorated army captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004.
-BBC
