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In his all out defense of Trump yesterday Gen Kelly closed with this -
However Miami Herald reports this -
Video of Frederica Wilson’s 2015 speech shows John Kelly was wrong
Rep. Frederica Wilson never said she secured $20 million from President Barack Obama to build an FBI building in Miramar in 2015 although Trump administration Chief of Staff John Kelly accused her of doing so from the White House podium on Thursday, according to a video of the actual event.
During a video of the nine minute speech posted Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Wilson took credit for passing legislation to get the building named after slain FBI agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, killed during a 1986 shootout with bank robbers south of Miami. Multiple members of Congress and then-FBI Director James Comey praised Wilson’s effort in getting the building named for them in 2015.
But Wilson never took credit for securing federal funding during her speech, showing that Kelly’s attack on her was false. Documents suggest that the money for the project was allocated by Congress before Wilson arrived in Congress in 2011.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In her remarks, Wilson did call passing her bill so quickly “a miracle, to say the least,” thanks to her and colleagues being in “attack mode.” But she also spent significant time praising the agents who Kelly said on Thursday had deserved the attention that day.
“Today it is is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the streets of South Florida and place their names and pictures high where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, sacrifice for our nation,” she said according to the video.
“It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters FBI. Because Special Agent Grogan and Dove embody the sacred motto of which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity. Bravery. And integrity.
“God bless you,” she said at the close, drawing a standing ovation. “God bless the FBI. And God bless America.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article179952536.html
I’ll end with this: In October — April, rather, of 2015, I was still on active duty, and I went to the dedication of the new FBI field office in Miami. And it was dedicated to two men who were killed in a firefight in Miami against drug traffickers in 1986 — a guy by the name of Grogan and Duke. Grogan almost retired, 53 years old; Duke, I think less than a year on the job. (Editor’s note: The F.B.I. agent for which the building is named was named Jerry L. Dove, not Duke.)
Anyways, they got in a gunfight and they were killed. Three other FBI agents were there, were wounded, and now retired. So we go down — Jim Comey gave an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well.
There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were three or four years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there, and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives.
And a congresswoman stood up, and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call he gave the money — the $20 million — to build the building. And she sat down, and we were stunned. Stunned that she had done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.
But, you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, O.K., fine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/politics/statement-kelly-gold-star.html
Anyways, they got in a gunfight and they were killed. Three other FBI agents were there, were wounded, and now retired. So we go down — Jim Comey gave an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men and to all of the men and women of the FBI who serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well.
There were family members there. Some of the children that were there were three or four years old when their dads were killed on that street in Miami-Dade. Three of the men that survived the fight were there, and gave a rendition of how brave those men were and how they gave their lives.
And a congresswoman stood up, and in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and all of that and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call he gave the money — the $20 million — to build the building. And she sat down, and we were stunned. Stunned that she had done it. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.
But, you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. None of us stood up and were appalled. We just said, O.K., fine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/politics/statement-kelly-gold-star.html
However Miami Herald reports this -
Video of Frederica Wilson’s 2015 speech shows John Kelly was wrong
Rep. Frederica Wilson never said she secured $20 million from President Barack Obama to build an FBI building in Miramar in 2015 although Trump administration Chief of Staff John Kelly accused her of doing so from the White House podium on Thursday, according to a video of the actual event.
During a video of the nine minute speech posted Friday by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Wilson took credit for passing legislation to get the building named after slain FBI agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove, killed during a 1986 shootout with bank robbers south of Miami. Multiple members of Congress and then-FBI Director James Comey praised Wilson’s effort in getting the building named for them in 2015.
But Wilson never took credit for securing federal funding during her speech, showing that Kelly’s attack on her was false. Documents suggest that the money for the project was allocated by Congress before Wilson arrived in Congress in 2011.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In her remarks, Wilson did call passing her bill so quickly “a miracle, to say the least,” thanks to her and colleagues being in “attack mode.” But she also spent significant time praising the agents who Kelly said on Thursday had deserved the attention that day.
“Today it is is our patriotic duty to lift up Special Agent Benjamin Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove from the streets of South Florida and place their names and pictures high where the world will know that we are proud of their sacrifice, sacrifice for our nation,” she said according to the video.
“It is only fitting that their names should be placed on the same mantle with the letters FBI. Because Special Agent Grogan and Dove embody the sacred motto of which the agency has become known. Please repeat it after me: Fidelity. Bravery. And integrity.
“God bless you,” she said at the close, drawing a standing ovation. “God bless the FBI. And God bless America.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article179952536.html
