President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania, paid a visit to Broward Health North Hospital in Florida Friday night where he visited with victims of the Parkland school shooting, their families and medical staff. Trump’s visit was attacked by the media and Obama administration officials who falsely accused Trump of only being at the hospital for six minutes when he was there for almost 45 minutes. Trump then paid a separate visit to law enforcement officers who responded to the school shooting and captured the killer that lasted about the same time.
President and Mrs. Trump visit Parkland school shooting victim Madeline Wilford and her family, White House photos.
The Washington Post published a nasty hit piece on Trump’s visit by Josh Dawsey that was praised on Twitter by the Post’s White House bureau chief Philip Rucker who wrote, “Very nice @jdawsey1 dispatch on Trump at Florida hospital — not as comforter in chief, but as congratulator in chief. Keep reading to the end.”
Very nice @jdawsey1 dispatch on Trump at Florida hospital — not as comforter in chief, but as congratulator in chief. Keep reading to the end. https://t.co/ZVW93zIjH1
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 17, 2018
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to Rucker on Twitter, “Actually @PhilipRucker it’s not very nice, but it is very misleading. @POTUS spent private time w/ victims of the shooting & their families. Out of respect for them he didn’t bring media into their hospital rooms but don’t let the truth get in the way of your anti-Trump narrative”
Actually @PhilipRucker it’s not very nice, but it is very misleading. @POTUS spent private time w/ victims of the shooting & their families. Out of respect for them he didn’t bring media into their hospital rooms but don’t let the truth get in the way of your anti-Trump narrative https://t.co/APx9ZSbpEh
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) February 17, 2018
Director of Social Media and Assistant to the President Dan Scavino, Jr. went after Dawsey on Twitter Saturday morning, writing, “That’s because at the hospital when President Trump goes from one room to the next focusing on spending time consoling shooting victims and their families — it’s private with no pool sprays. The stories and moments are very powerful and heartbreaking.”
That’s because at the hospital when President Trump goes from one room to the next focusing on spending time consoling shooting victims and their families — it’s private with no pool sprays. The stories and moments are very powerful and heartbreaking. https://t.co/cBUrRfhKEW
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) February 17, 2018
The Dawsey tweet Scavino responded to read, “Faced with a tragedy or mass killing, Trump usually focuses more on congratulating first responders and police than he does on consoling victims. He did that again Friday night. My story:”
Faced with a tragedy or mass killing, Trump usually focuses more on congratulating first responders and police than he does on consoling victims. He did that again Friday night. My story: https://t.co/SR2NISOdSn
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 17, 2018
Neither Rucker nor Dawsey responded to either Sanders of Scavino. However Dawsey did a passive/aggressive retweet of Wall Street Journal reporter Ted Mann defending him to Sanders, “The story says that he did this. It’s in the fourth paragraph.”
The story says that he did this. It's in the fourth paragraph. https://t.co/oUiWqV18LT
— Ted Mann (@TMannWSJ) February 17, 2018
The White House released photos Friday night of the President and First Lady visiting one of the victims and her family, as well as hospital staff.
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Madeline “Maddy” Wilford, 18, and her family, who is recovering from gunshot wounds at Broward Health North Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, Florida. #StonemanShooting pic.twitter.com/v2SPVRG1No
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) February 17, 2018
Our entire Nation, w/one heavy heart, continues to pray for the victims & their families in Parkland, FL. To teachers, law enforcement, first responders & medical professionals who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We THANK YOU for your courage! https://t.co/3yJsrebZMG pic.twitter.com/ti791dENTy
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018
Excerpts from the Post article (including the ‘read to the end’ bit promoted by Rucker):
President Trump, as he often does while responding to natural disasters, mass shootings or unfolding crises, spent much of his time congratulating the responders instead of memorializing the victims of Wednesday’s school shooting during a visit here Friday.
Trump, in two quick stops at a hospital and sheriff’s office near the school where 17 were killed and scores were injured, praised the doctors, police officers, fire officials and others who responded quickly to the mass shooting in Parkland, casting their response as heroic and record-setting.
“Incredible job, and everybody is talking about it,” Trump said of the response, with dozens of officers flanking a large circular conference room table on the fifth floor of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Trump said he saw victims at the hospital — he was not seen doing so — and even described one woman who suffered bullets to her lungs. That anecdote, though, quickly became about the officers, who responded within 20 minutes and saved her life.
…He did not give an emotional or rousing commemoration to the victims — like President Barack Obama’s after a mass shooting at a Charleston, S.C., church — nor did he publicly greet any families whose children were killed in the attack. Speaking at a funeral or a large vigil was not on the agenda. There were no calls for American resolve. There were no tears.
The visits were quick. For instance, Friday night, he was in the hospital for about 35 minutes, speaking to the news media for about 45 seconds. He was in the sheriff’s office a bit longer.
By 8:50 p.m, the president’s motorcade was rolling north to his palatial coastal estate called Mar-a-Lago.
The president and his aides — who have been largely silent as Cabinet officials have been accused of wrongdoing and inappropriate spending, an immigration push failed, 13 Russians were indicted with spreading disinformation to help Trump in the election, new detailed accusations of his alleged affairs emerged and concerns grew about security clearances — did not take questions again Friday.
Trump ignored shouted requests to weigh in on the FBI, which failed to follow up on a tip on the Florida shooter, and whether he believes gun laws should be tightened.
…The victims and those present at a vigil who called for tougher gun-control laws did not see the president.
…At the end, Michael Leonard, the officer who found the gunman and handcuffed him, spent 15 seconds explaining his actions.
The president was not satisfied, so he elaborated for the officer:
“That was so modest; I would have told it much differently,” Trump said. “I would have said, without me, they never would have found him.”
This is not reporting. This is Dawsey pounding on his keyboard venting his contempt for President Trump.
Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker, twin trolls separated at birth?
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