'Wow': Tearful Iran war widow left speechless by Trump admin response
Mia Gonzalez-Swinton, the widow of Staff Sergeant Michael Swinton, told CNN she was left speechless by the response from the Trump administration. (CNN/Screenshot)
July 24, 2026
The widow of a service member recently killed amid the Iran war was speechless when asked about the Trump administration's response.
During an interview with CNN anchor Erin Burnett, Mia Gonzalez-Swinton spoke about her husband, late Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, who was one of four U.S. service members killed last weekend in the ongoing conflict with Iran. Swinton was killed in Iraq, and his name vanished from the Department of Defense casualty list, Burnett noted.
Gonzalez-Swinton gave a tearful interview with Burnett where she described her late husband as "goofy" and a father to a baby girl. Burnett asked her about the Trump administration removing her husband's name, along with three others, from the casualty list.
"Mia, something happened this week that we don't really understand," Burnett said. "The Pentagon, you know, removing Michael and the three soldiers who also died this past weekend from the public casualty count of soldiers and troops who have died during the war."
Burnett said that the Pentagon explained the removal was "a glitch."
She asked Gonzalez-Swinton, "Has anyone spoken to you about this or told you anything about it?"
A silence followed while Gonzalez-Swinton appeared to collect her thoughts and change her expression. After a few seconds, she slowly said, "Nobody has reached out yet."
Gonzalez-Swinton took another brief pause while she seemed to think, and again her expression changed to surprise.
"Wow," she continued. "I kind of don't have words for that."
Burnett seemed to struggle too, as she responded, "I can imagine." Gonzalez-Swinton broke into tears as the interview ended.