The women of the Congressional Black Caucus on Sunday called on White House chief of staff John Kelly to apologize for his comments about Rep. Frederica Wilson last week.
At least 17 female caucus members signed their names on a statement including the likes of Reps. Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee, according to The Hill.
“We, the women of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly stand with Congresswoman Wilson and demand that General Kelly apologize to her without delay and take responsibility for his reckless and false statements,” they said in a statement.
Wilson has been caught up in a whirlwind dispute with Kelly and President Donald Trump over her criticism of the commander-in-chief’s phone call to the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, a soldier that was killed while on a military mission in Niger.
In a press briefing Thursday, Kelly falsely accused Wilson of boasting about raising funding at a building dedication honoring slain FBI agents.
“A congresswoman stood up, and in a long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in 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,” Kelly told reporters at the briefing.
But a video published Friday showed that Kelly lied.
“A video of Congresswoman Wilson’s comments on that day has been released, and it provides indisputable proof that she never made any of the statements of which General Kelly falsely accused her,” the statement said.
It continued: “Congresswoman Wilson’s integrity and credibility should not be challenged or undermined by such blatant lies.”
The White House has yet to respond.