Trump gives condolences to families in shooting
The Associated Press
HOUSTON» President Donald Trump spent more than an hour Thursday offering private condolences to some families affected by last month’s deadly Texas school shooting, the latest spasm of mass violence in a year marred by assaults on the nation’s schools.
While in Texas, Trump’s newly formed school safety commission met outside Washington, part of the president’s chosen solution to combat the rising tide of bloodshed after his brief flirtation with tougher gun laws went nowhere.
A White House spokesman said Trump was “moved” by the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School, which left eight students and two substitute teachers dead. A student faces capital murder charges in the attack.
“These events are very tragic, whenever they happen. And you know, the president wants to extend his condolences and talk about the issue of school safety,” spokesman Raj Shah told Fox News Channel.
Trump, who at times has embraced his role awkwardly as the national comforter-in-chief, did not publicly share what he told the grieving families and local leaders during a meeting at a Coast Guard base outside Houston.
Reporters were not permitted to witness the meeting, but Pamela Stanich, whose 17-year-old son, Jared Black, was among the eight students killed, was one of the parents who met with Trump, giving him a family statement and her son’s eulogy.
“(Trump) met with us privately and showed sincerity, compassion, and concern on making our schools safer across the nation,” she wrote in a Facebook post after the meeting. “He spent time talking to the survivors and asking on what happened and what would have made a different. Changes are coming for the good. Thank you Mr. Trump.”
Rhonda Hart, whose 14year-old daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed at the school, also met with Trump.
“@realDonaldTrump calling someone who has mental illness ‘whacky’ is (expletive) offensive. You half-wit,” she tweeted.
All told, more than two dozen people affected by the shooting joined Trump, according to the White House. Also Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whom Trump put in charge of the school safety commission, announced a $1 million grant to the Santa Fe school district to help with post-shooting recovery efforts.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, both Republicans, greeted Trump after Air Force One landed at a Houston military base. Abbott joined Trump for the short ride in the presidential limousine to a Coast Guard hangar where the meeting took place.
Trump then headed to a fundraiser at a luxury hotel in downtown Houston, the first of his two big-dollar events across Texas on Thursday. A White House official did not immediately respond to requests for details about how much money was to be raised, and who was benefiting, from the fundraising events.