Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump meets OSU victims, families
After consoling them, he left for Iowa rally
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the midst of his Cabinet deliberations, Presidentelect Donald Trump flew to Ohio on Thursday to meet with victims and families after the latest U.S. outbreak of violence, a somber duty that has become all too familiar to President Barack Obama, the current occupant of the White House.
In Columbus, he also had words of tribute for astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn of Ohio — “indeed an American hero” — who died Thursday at 95. Then he was off to Iowa for the latest stop on his victory tour to states that helped him win the presidency.
In the middle of it all, Trump also made his latest Cabinet announcement, picking fast-food executive Andrew Puzder to lead the Labor Department. Puzder heads CKE Restaurants Holdings, the parent of Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and other chains.
Trump flew to Columbus to meet with several people who were slashed by Ohio State student Abdul Razak Ali Artan. Artan, 18, first rammed a crowd with his car Monday before getting out with a knife and stabbing students. He was then fatally shot by police. The president-elect spent about 30 minutes with some of the victims and their families.
“These are great people, amazing people,” said Trump, who also paid tribute to the first responders who tended to the victims and shot the attacker. “The families have come through this so well.”
Trump met with the families privately and aides did not immediately provide an accounting of what was discussed. But, in his brief statement to reporters, he avoided the inflammatory rhetoric that has marked his response to other attacks.
After the Ohio incident Nov. 26, Trump had tweeted that Artan, a legal Somali immigrant, should not have been in the country. And last week, in nearby Cincinnati, Trump said lax immigration policies enacted by “stupid politicians” led to the “violent atrocity.”
Meanwhile, a local union president slammed by Trump on Twitter stood his ground Thursday, maintaining the president-elect gave false hope to hundreds of workers by inflating the number of jobs being saved at a Carrier Corp. factory in Indianapolis.
United Steelworkers Local 1999 President Chuck Jones spent much of the day doing television interviews after Trump called him out by name Wednesday night. Jones is leader of the union for a few thousand workers at the Carrier factory and 11 other plants.
Trump tweeted that Jones “has done a terrible job representing workers” following comments from Jones this week that Trump had lied to workers and put on a “dog-and-pony show” at the Carrier factory last week by taking credit for keeping 1,100 jobs from being outsourced to Mexico.
Jones called Trump’s reaction “amusing” and said he wasn’t backing off “one iota.”
“Give the guy credit — he’s got some spunk,” Jones told The Associated Press. “Am I upset, worried, scared or anything? No. Does it faze me? No.”
Trump was defending a deal that he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence — governor of Indiana — celebrated during a Dec. 1 visit to Carrier’s Indianapolis factory. Trump then declared it was only the first of many business victories to come. Jones said the number of Carrier jobs actually saved is about 800, while some 550 jobs will still be lost from the factory to Mexico.
Soon after Trump’s tweets went out Wednesday night, the union leader started getting harassing phone calls, Jones said.
“People want to say, ‘Hey, I know what kind of car you drive. I know you’ve got kids. I know where you live,’ ” he said. “I ain’t worried about that.”
After his stop in Ohio, Trump headed to Iowa for the next stop on his tour meant to salute supporters who gave him the White House. He was to appear in Des Moines with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, whom he is planning to appoint as U.S. ambassador to China. On Friday, the president-elect is to make an appearance in Louisiana to boost the Republican Senate candidate ahead of that state’s runoff before holding a rally in Michigan.
Trump also may have breathed new life into the candidacy of a secretary of state contender. The president-elect said he planned to name his choice for the key Cabinet post next week and insisted that former critic Mitt Romney still had a chance. Three sources close to the selection process said late Wednesday that Romney’s stock was on the rise again after a period in which the celebrity businessman had cooled on the candidacy of the former Massachusetts governor.
Trump has changed his mind repeatedly throughout the process and has expanded the pool of contenders beyond the previously identified final four of Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker and former CIA Director David Petraeus.