WASHINGTON – (CLARKSVILLENOW) White House chief of staff and Gold Star father John Kelly spoke at Thursday’s White House briefing to address outreach to Gold Star families.

Kelly said he is “stunned” and “broken hearted” by the criticism of Trump’s call to the family of an Army sergeant killed in Niger.

John Kelly tells reporters at the White House that the president had expressed his condolences “in the best way that he could.”

The aunt of an Army sergeant killed in Niger said Trump showed “disrespect” to the soldier’s loved ones as he telephoned them to extend condolences as they drove to a Miami airport to receive his body.

Florida Democrat Rep. Frederica Wilson said Trump had told the widow that “you know that this could happen when you signed up for it … but it still hurts.”