Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker pulled no punches when asked Thursday what he thought of President Donald Trump's phone call to the widow of a fallen soldier.
"I think the exchange that he had with this family and the follow up was incredibly disgraceful and discouraging and depressing," Baker told Boston Public Radio.
Trump has denied a Florida Congresswoman's account of his phone call to the wife of a U.S. Soldier recently killed in Niger.
Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Democrat, says she was with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and listened on a car speaker phone as the president spoke with her. Wilson claims Trump told the widow that her husband "must've known what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway."
Baker, a Republican, had also been critical of Trump for criticizing Gold Star father Khizr Khan during last year's presidential campaign. He has also distanced himself from Trump on issues like transgender rights, birth control access and immigration.
"If you're a public official, the reason you are able and allowed to be a public official is because some person in uniform stood up for this country at some point in its history and preserved our freedom and our security and our opportunity to continue to be a great democracy," the governor said. "They deserve our love and our appreciation, our respect and our support, period."
You can listen to Baker's full interview here.
