Former talk-show host Montel Williams on Friday put the blame for the Gold Star controversy on President Donald Trump and ripped the flap between White House chief of staff John Kelly and Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson as a "sideshow."
"John Kelly and the congresswoman are some kind of side show right now," Williams, 61, who served in the Navy and Marines, told Brianna Keilar on CNN. "I really respect Gen. Kelly. I really, really do.
"But, unfortunately, he was sent out in front of the press with facts that were not true," he said, referring to Kelly's appearance Thursday at the White House briefing.
"Therefore, he didn't even look at his own facts before he started casting dispersions on someone.
"If we can't believe what you say from one or two points, why should we believe any of it?
"We have soldiers who have died — and… we now see his wife going to retrieve her husband's body, and a person starts the conversation with, 'You know, he knew what he was getting into.'"
Army Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, died with three other Green Berets in an Oct. 4 ambush by Islamic State terrorists in Niger.
Trump's comments came in a telephone call Tuesday to Johnson's pregnant widow, Myeshia, 24, while in a limousine en route to greet her husband's casket at Miami International Airport.
Wilson was in the car with Johnson and other family members. She and her late husband also have a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
"This is all about division," Williams told Keilar. "This whole thing didn't start because of what a congresswoman said.
"This was defined, and it was also started, by President Trump last week when he attempted to throw his predecessors under the bus for not having called people.
"This is where this all started."