Story highlights Kelly said he advised Trump on what to say before he called the families

He chastised the congresswoman for what he said was politicizing a soldier's death

Washington (CNN) White House chief of staff John Kelly, in an extraordinary and at times emotional statement Thursday, said he was "stunned" by what a Democratic congresswoman told reporters after she listened in on President Donald Trump's call to the widow of a fallen soldier.

Kelly, a Gold Star father, said he was "brokenhearted" by the congresswoman's criticism and said that he had advised Trump on what to say before he called the families of the four fallen soldiers who died during an ambush in Niger. Kelly said he encouraged Trump to echo words Gen. Joseph Dunford offered to Kelly when his own son was killed in Afghanistan.

"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1%. He knew what the possibilities were because we were at war," Kelly said, channeling Dunford's words to him upon the death of Kelly's son. "And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the President tried to say to the four families the other day."

Rep. Frederica Wilson told CNN Tuesday evening that Trump told the widow that her husband "knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt."

Wilson, who listened in on the call via speakerphone because she is close with the family, said on CNN's "New Day" Wednesday morning that Trump didn't appear to know Sgt. La David Johnson's name and that his widow "broke down" after her call with the President. Johnson was among the four US soldiers killed by enemy fire in the October 4 ambush

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