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U.S. NEWS Saturday 21 OctOber 2017

Charges, Insults Fly after Trump Aide Assails Congresswoman

accusation, White House Wilson never mentioned widow that “you know that
press secretary Sarah Huck- the building’s funding, this could happen when
abee Sanders chastised re- though she did recount at you signed up for it ... but it
porters Friday for question- length her efforts to help still hurts.”
ing the account of a deco- name the building in honor Johnson’s aunt, who raised
rated general. of the special agents. the soldier from a young
“If you want to go after That did nothing to deter age, said the family took
General Kelly, that’s up to Sanders, who said “If you’re that remark to be disre-
you,” she said. “But I think able to make a sacred act spectful.
that if you want to get into like honoring American he- The Defense Department
a debate with a four-star roes about yourself, you’re is investigating the details
Marine general, I think that an empty barrel.” of the Niger ambush, in
that’s something highly in- Sanders also used a dismis- which Islamic militants on
appropriate.” sive Southwest rancher’s motorcycles brought rock-
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a term, calling Wilson, who et-propelled grenades and
South Carolina Republican often wears elaborate hats, heavy machine guns, killing
and an Air Force veteran, “all hat and no cattle.” the four and wounding oth-
rejected Sanders’ con- Wilson was in the car with ers. The FBI said it is assisting,
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly pauses as he speaks to the tention that questioning the family of Johnson, who as it has in the past when
media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room a general was out of line, died in an Oct. 4 ambush American citizens are killed
of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) saying simply, “No, not in that killed four American overseas.
America.” soldiers in Niger, when Sanders said Friday that if
Continued from Front It all started when Wilson Video of the FBI office dedi- Trump called to express his the “spirit” in which Trump’s
told reporters that Trump cation in Miami, from the condolences on Tuesday. comments “were intended
“The White House itself is had insulted the family of archives of South Florida’s She said in an interview that were misunderstood, that’s
full of white supremacists,” Johnson, who was killed Sun-Sentinel, shows that Trump had told Johnson’s very unfortunate.”q
said Wilson, who is black, as two weeks ago in Niger.
is the Florida family Trump She was fabricating that,
had called in a condo- Trump said. The soldier’s
lence effort this week that widow and aunt said no, it
led to the back-and-forth was the president who was
name calling. fibbing.
Trump, in an interview with Then Kelly strode out in the
Fox Business Network, then White House briefing room
called Wilson’s criticism of on Thursday, backing up
Kelly “sickening.” And, in a the president and suggest-
comment that seems un- ing Wilson was just grand-
likely to be the last word, standing — as he said she
he said he actually had had at the FBI dedication
had a “very nice call,” with in 2015.
the family of Sgt. La David After news accounts took
Johnson. issue with part of that last

Uninsured rate up to 12.3%

amid “Obamacare” turmoil

By RICARDO ZALDIVAR 1-Sept. 30, an increase
Associated Press of 1.4 percentage points
WASHINGTON (AP) — The since the end of last year.
number of U.S. adults with- The increase in the number
out health insurance is up of uninsured is more striking
nearly 3.5 million this year, because it comes at a time
as rising premiums and po- of economic growth and
litical turmoil over “Obam- low unemployment.
acare” undermine cover- President Donald Trump
age gains that drove the has stopped federal pay-
nation’s uninsured rate to a ments that reimburse in-
historic low. surers for lower copays
That finding is based on the and deductibles that the
latest installment of a ma- Obama-era law requires
jor survey, released Friday. them to provide to people
The Gallup-Sharecare Well- with modest incomes. His
Being Index asks a random administration slashed the
sample of 500 people each advertising budget for 2018
day whether they have sign-ups, cut the length of
health insurance. open enrollment in half,
The survey found that the and sharply reduced fed-
uninsured rate among eral grants to groups that
adults was 12.3 percent help consumers navigate
during the period from July the process. q