Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP/Shutterstock
Donald Trumpmade a visit to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to show support for the 11 people who lost their lives and six more who were injured in Saturday’s shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue.
The president, 72, traveled to Pennsylvania alongside First LadyMelania Trump, daughterIvanka Trumpand son-in-law Jared Kushner — the latter two who are Jewish. They visited with victims’ families and those injured in the hospital.
Their visit was not without controversy.
For one,local religious leaders had previously requested Mr. Trump not make the trip. On Sunday, eleven representatives from the Pittsburgh chapter of a progressive Jewish group known as Behind the Arc even penned a letter outlining the impact of Mr. Trump’s rhetoric on the shooter and asking him to remain in Washington, D.C. until he denounces white nationalism and passes inclusive policies benefiting “people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.”
Andrew Harnik/AP/Shutterstock
Then there were local politicians, including Pennsylvania’s two U.S. senators and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who all said they would not be appearing with the president.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey was invited but declined due to previous commitments, his spokesperson told CNN. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was not invited, his communications director said to the network.
In Peduto’s case, he had urged the White House to delay Mr. Trump’s trip to focus instead on the first three of the victims’ funerals — for Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz and brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal — which were held earlier Tuesday morning.
“We did try to get the message out to the White House that our priority is the first funeral,” Peduto told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I do believe that it would be best to put the attention on the families this week, and if [Mr. Trump] were to visit, choose a different time to be able to do it. Our focus as a city will be on the families and the outreach that they’ll need this week and the support that they’ll need to get through it.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said that the president had invited people on other sides of the aisle to participate. CNN reported that listed included Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — none of which were coming.
Still, Sanders insisted Mr. Trump’s intentions were positive in his trip.
“The president and first lady are traveling to Pittsburgh today to show their respect, honor the lives of those lost, and offer prayers and condolences to a grieving community,” she said on Tuesday, CNN reported. “The horrific tragedy in Pittsburgh is not a political eventand out of respect, the president extended a bipartisan invitation to Congressional Leadership to travel with him to Pennsylvania. Understandably, the members had prior commitments or wanted to show their respect in a private way.”
Mr. Trump faced backlash for initially failing to denounce white supremacy following August 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — which resulted in the death of 32-year-old counter-protester Heather Heyer. He was criticized for placing equal blame on the protesters (which included white supremacists and white nationalists) and the counter-protestors, saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”
He appeared to be more decisive about Saturday’s shooting, which was thedeadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the U.S.In the wake of the shooting, Mr. Trump condemned the event as an act of anti-Semitism.
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Victims of the shootingincluded siblings, a husband and wife and a 97-year-old woman. Four responding police officers were among the six people wounded.
The suspected shooterRobert Bowers, who opened fire during a Shabbat service at the Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood,has been chargedwith 29 federal crime, most of which carry a maximum penalty of death. According to U.S. Attorney Scott Brady, those are broken down into 11 counts of murdering victims exercising their religious beliefs and 11 counts of using a firearm to commit murder, as well as seven additional charges in connection with his alleged attack on the responding police officers at the scene, four of whom were wounded.
Brady said that during the rampage Bowers allegedly talked about genocide and wanting to kill Jewish people. He was armed with three handguns and anAR-15 assault rifle, according to Brady. The FBI will be leading the investigation, the public safety department announced.
Bowers will make his initial court appearance Monday afternoon, Brady said.
source: people.com
