President Trump thanked Geraldo Rivera on Thursday for defending him against accusations that he was inconsiderate to the family of a slain U.S. soldier.
“He gets no slack at all, and it’s part of the reason we are so utterly divided now, that even this, even the most sacred event — honoring a hero — becomes politicized,” Rivera said.
“Thank you @GeraldoRivera @FoxandFriends. Agree!” Trump tweeted, after Rivera’s appearance on the Fox News network talk show, which the president is known to watch frequently.
The controversy over the phone call began earlier this week, when Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) said she overheard Trump tell the widow of slain Army Sgt. La David Johnson that Johnson “knew what he signed up for … but when it happens it hurts anyway.”
Johnson was one of four U.S. Army Green Berets killed in Niger.
Rivera compared the media frenzy over Trump’s call to the soldier’s family to the criticism the administration took for its response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
“This criticism of President Trump on this issue, it is echoing what happened in Puerto Rico,” Rivera said. “In Puerto Rico, I saw with my eyes how the Puerto Rican people were responding to the president and the first lady.”
“I saw they loved him,” Rivera said.