"This could turn out to be another Benghazi." Congresswoman warns Trump on ISIS attack

A growing number of congressional members are demanding answers about the ISIS-led ambush in Niger that claimed the lives of four American troops on Oct. 4.

“This could turn out to be another Benghazi,” Rep. Frederica Wilson told CNN Tuesday night. “I have asked for an investigation. And I’m expecting a classified briefing when I return to Washington to answer some of the mitigating questions that I can’t answer on my own.”

The ISIS ambush stunned U.S. military leaders who were completely unaware that ISIS forces were in the region where the deadly, chaotic strike unfolded. Also unanswered is why one of the four fallen American troops, an Army Green Beret, was left behind, only to have his body recovered two days later by Nigerien troops.

This comes as Donald Trump continues to shock observers with his committed refusal to express public sympathy for the killed Americans. The deadly raid claimed more U.S. military combat lives than any other single day since Trump was inaugurated. (Trump has a disturbing habit of ignoring American soldiers who give their lives.)

On Tuesday night, he finally telephoned Myeshia Johnson, the grieving widow of Sgt. La David Johnson. She was en route to meet her husband’s body at the airport. Lacking all sympathy, Trump told her that her husband “knew what he was signing up for” when he joined the military, but that “I guess it still hurts.” (Trump denies the claim.)

Wilson says she was in the car with the widow at the time and heard the conversation on speakerphone. “I wanted to speak with him and I was going to curse him out,” she said. “There’s no reason for the president to be so insensitive.”

WILSON: She was just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral, which give her all kinds of nightmares, how his body must look, how his face must look. And this is what the president of the United States says to her? […]

There’s no reason for the president to be so insensitive. Not only to the family of this soldier but the impervious rhetoric. You know it’s disrespectful to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom. And our community is livid because this was our hero. We don’t have many heroes in our young men in Miami-Dade County. But he was a hero for us. And we don’t like what was said, and that is not something you say to a grieving wife.

LEMON: What was your reaction, Representative?

WILSON: I asked them to give me the phone because I wanted to speak with him, and I was going to curse him out. That was my reaction at that time. I was livid. But  they would not give me the phone.

LEMON: What did she say?

WILSON: She was just crying. She couldn’t say anything. […]

This could turn out to be another Benghazi. And I have asked for an investigation. Rep. Hastings of Ft. Lauderdale and I sent a letter, and we want to find out exactly what happened. And I’m expecting a classified briefing when I return to Washington to answer some of those mitigating questions that I can’t answer.

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has launched a comprehensive investigation into the raid.

According to CNN, a partial list of the pending questions include, why did the intelligence indicate it was “unlikely” the 12-man team led by Green Berets would run into opposition? Was there overlooked evidence that ISIS was operating in the area? Were the villagers the team met with possibly ISIS loyalists? Once the ambush broke out, why and how did the body of Sgt. La David Johnson get left behind? Did he survive the ambush or was he killed instantly? And where was his body found in relation to where the gun battle took place?

Over the years, Trump tweeted about Benghazi more than 60 times, while Republicans were consumed with pushing hollow conspiracies surrounding the terror raid that killed four Americans in 2012.

Fox News, of course, joined forces with the GOP and aired thousands of bogus reports about Benghazi, as Republicans tried to pin blame President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the attack.

Trump now has his own Benghazi-type raid controversy to deal with. Except these questions are based on facts.