Trump meets Ohio State victims, families

President-elect announces labor chief, will keep ties to ‘Apprentice’ franchise

COLUMBUS, OHIO — In the midst of his Cabinet deliberations, President-elect Donald Trump flew to Ohio Thursday to meet with victims and families after the latest U.S. outbreak of violence, a somber duty that became all too familiar to his predecessor.

He stopped in Columbus en route to Iowa for the latest stop on his victory tour to states that helped him win the presidency.

Earlier Thursday, he 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. The Californian was one of Trump’s earliest campaign financiers, and his selection brings yet another wealthy business person and elite donor into his administration-in-the-making.

Trump flew to Columbus to meet with several people who were slashed by Ohio State student Abdul Razak Ali Artan. Artan, 18, rammed a campus crowd with his car before getting out with a knife and stabbing students before being 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.

Trump met with the families privately and aides did not immediately provide an account of what was discussed. But, in his brief statement to reporters, he took on the role of comforter-in-chief, avoiding the inflammatory rhetoric that has marked his response to other attacks.

Following the Ohio incident, 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.”

Later Thursday in Iowa, he did not mention the attacker but declared: “This horrific assault is just one more tragic reminder that immigration security is national security. A Trump administration will always put the safety and security of American people first.”

It was also revealed Thursday that even after Trump moves into the Oval Office, he will retain an executive producer credit on the reality show “The New Celebrity Apprentice,” to be hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The news raised questions about a conflict of interest since Trump will have an interest in a show broadcast on NBC while he is being covered by the network’s news division.

“Mr. Trump has a big stake in the show and conceived of it with Mark Burnett,” creator of the “Apprentice” franchise, said Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman.

On his newest Cabinet selection, Trump said in a statement that as labor secretary Puzder will “save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages.” But his choice, cheered by some business groups, drew the ire of workers’ rights organizations and labor unions.

Said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry, “Throughout his career, Andrew Puzder has shown he does not believe in the dignity of all work and has used his position to line his own pockets at the expense of workers.”

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 appeared in Des Moines with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, whom he is planning to appoint as U.S. ambassador to China. Today, he is to make an appearance in Louisiana to boost a Republican Senate candidate ahead of that state’s runoff election before holding a rally in Michigan.

His busy week has included unveiling a number of new Cabinet choices.

He has selected retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, according to people close to the transition; he officially picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a climate-change denier whose policies have helped fossil fuel companies, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency; and he named the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon, to head the Small Business Administration.