Trump visits shooting victims in Dayton, El Paso, but mostly stays out of public view
After calling for unity and healing as two American cities mourn the loss of thirty one murdered people, President Donald Trump lashed out at his critics on Twitter and while visiting first responders.
The president said he had "an amazing day" traveling to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio to offer condolences to victims, meet with local leaders and thank first responders for their heroism. The president and first lady visited Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and in Texas, the University Medical Center of El Paso and the Emergency Operations Center.
Trump spent most of the day out of public view as he met with people during stops in Ohio and Texas. But on Twitter and during brief remarks in El Paso, the president focused his attention on critics and scolded Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley for remarks they made during a press conference after he'd left.
"They shouldn't be politicking today," Trump said, when asked why he attacked people on a day that he said should be without politics.
"I get on Air Force One, where they do have a lot of televisions, and I turn on the television and there they are saying, 'well I don't know if it was appropriate for the president to be here,' etc. etc., same old line," Trump said, with some of El Paso's first responders standing beside him.
"They're very dishonest people and that's probably why he got zero percent and failed as a presidential candidate," Trump said of Brown.
As the president criss-crossed the country aboard Air Force One to act as "consoler in chief," the president and his aides sent a series of scathing tweets attacking Brown and Whaley for mischaracterizing their experiences inside Dayton's hospital. However both Brown and Whaley thanked the president for coming to their grieving city. The president also criticized Joe Biden for a speech he made in Iowa and offered a critique on Fox News' daily programming.
In brief remarks in El Paso, Trump praised the work of the first responders and noted he was impressed by the "love and respect for the office of the presidency."
Then, in the emergency operations center with law enforcement, the president said he has been struck by "all the love" he had seen.
The president spent time shaking hands and greeting law enforcement -- some of them who were the very first to respond to calls at the Walmart where 22 people died.
"All over the world they're talking about the job that you have done as police, as law enforcement, as first responders," Trump said. "I wanted to come and thank you because you're very special people."
Earlier in Dayton, Trump and first lady Melania Trump were greeted by a mix of supporters and protesters along the motorcade route from the airport and outside Dayton's Miami Valley Hospital. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham tweeted that the president and first lady met with wounded victims and family members at the hospital and were "stopping between rooms to thank the hardworking medical staff."
"You had God watching," Grisham said Trump said while at the hospital. "I want you to know we’re with you all the way."
Trump made no other stops in Dayton, although a number of officials, including Whaley, greeted him when he landed.
Asked earlier in the day, as he left the White House, about criticism of his divisive rhetoric on race and immigration, the president insisted "my rhetoric brings people together."
"I do think we have toned it down," he told reporters.
At the same time, Trump repeated conservative media reports focused on the Dayton shooter’s self-description as “leftist” on a Twitter account believed to be his, although law enforcement authorities have said they do not believe his political views appear to be a significant motive for the Dayton attack.
"This person supported Bernie Sanders, Antifa and Elizabeth Warren I understand -- nothing to do with President Trump," he said, speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn, referring to two of the 2020 Democratic candidates and the left-wing, anti-fascist group.
Most of the posts on the shooter's social media accounts indicate left-leaning politics. Two of these posts were in support of Elizabeth Warren and one also expresses support of Bernie Sanders, amid other posts that were anti-white supremacist and pro-immigration.
But law enforcement authorities have said they can't say yet what the Dayton shooter's motive was and experts analyzing his social media posts told ABC News his political views do not so far appear to be the reason for his attack. Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said on Tuesday that "while we do not have true clarity on the motive of the assailant," evidence has revealed the gunman had a "history of obsessions with violent ideations" and that he "expressed the desire" to commit a mass shooting.
In fact, the shooter demonstrated a variety of hatreds, and his misogyny actually jumped out to investigators as being far more extreme than his political expressions, two officials briefed on the Dayton investigation told ABC News.
"These are people looking for political gain," Trump said referring to his critics, Sanders and Warren being among the harshest. "As much as possible I try to stay out of that."
"They're trying to make political points," Trump said. "I would like to stay out of the political fray."
"I don't blame Elizabeth Warren and I don't blame Bernie Sanders. I don't blame anybody -- I blame -- these are sick people. These are people that are really mentally ill, mentally disturbed. It’s a mental problem," the president said, talking about the gunmen.
Asked about the threat of white supremacy, Trump said, "I am very concerned about the rise of any group of hate. I don't like it, any group of hate, whether it's white supremacy, whether it's any other kind of supremacy, with it's Antifa -- I am very concerned about it and I'll do something about it."
Asked about gun control efforts, Trump said he's “looking to do background checks … they’re important," claiming there's "great appetite for background checks."
"I'll be convincing some people to do things that they don't want to do ... I have a lot of influence with a lot of people and I want to convince them to do the right thing ... we've made a lot of headway in the last three days," he said, apparently referring to consultations with GOP congressional leaders as he and they face pressure to act in the face of the latest shootings.
At the same time, Trump appeared to downplay any effort to restrict or ban assault weapons or high-capacity ammunition magazines of the kinds used in the shootings, saying there's "great appetite to do something to make sure that mentally unstable, seriously ill people aren't carrying guns ... I have not seen it in regard to certain types of weapons."
Ahead of his visits, the president spent Tuesday preparing for his encounters with the grieving communities, according to a White House official. But some questioned the presence of the president, whose rhetoric, they say, encouraged the shooters and has fanned the flames of division.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said the president travels to "heal communities" by meeting with the injured, survivors, local law enforcement and medical professionals. In what has become routine for modern presidents, Trump visited victims and local law enforcement in the aftermath of mass shootings like Parkland, Florida, and Pittsburgh. But in El Paso -- a border city with a large Latino population -- some residents questioned why the president would visit.
"Why would he want to come? That would be my first -- I know he's our president, but he has promoted a lot of this -- all this anger. He has promoted it across the nation and it needs to stop, it needs to stop," Bill Aguirre, a veteran and El Paso native told ABC News.
El Paso County Commissioner David Stout told ABC News Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer on "The Briefing Room" Tuesday that there's "a gaping wound that's still open here" and that a lot of people feel that Trump's presence in the community is "just going to be throwing salt in an open wound."
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, said on MSNBC Monday that Trump "is not welcome" in El Paso. "He should not come here while we are in mourning."
On Twitter Tuesday, she also posted a thread about how she declined the president's invitation to join him during his visit to El Paso and said she requested a phone call with him instead.
However, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said he would welcome Trump, "as he is president of the United States."
"So in that capacity, I will fulfill my obligations as mayor of El Paso to meet with the president and discuss whatever our needs are in this community and hope that if we are expressing specifics that we can get him to come through for us," Margo said.
Stephanie Whiddon, who recently moved to El Paso from Indiana, was not opposed to the visit and said it could be a learning opportunity.
"He should come, he should see what we're going through. The pain that this community is feeling right now, the pain that their families are suffering. He needs to be a part of that."
In her comments on Monday, Escobar specifically pointed to the president's language when she said Trump wasn't welcome.
"Words have consequences. And the president has made my community and my people the enemy. He has told the country that we are people to be feared, people to be hated. He has done that at his rallies, he has done that through his Twitter," Escobar said. "And so I would ask his staff and his team to consider the fact that his words and his actions have played a role in this."
The El Paso shooting suspect allegedly said he wanted to target as many Mexicans as he could in his deadly rampage at a Walmart, and used white nationalist rhetoric. In a speech at the White House on Monday, the president condemned hate speech and white nationalism that was hailed by the suspect in El Paso.
But the Dayton mayor said his comments on Monday fell short of unifying.
"I'm disappointed with his remarks. I think they fell really short. He mentioned gun issues one time. I think watching the president over the past few years on issues of guns, he has been -- I don't know if he knows what he believes, frankly," Whaley said.
On Tuesday, she told reporters that she planned to tell Trump "how unhelpful he's been" with regard to his comments about how to tackle gun violence, but deflected when she was asked if she thought the president was visiting Dayton too soon after the shootings.
"He's the president of the United States. He does his calendar, I do mine," she said.
Later, she said, "I will welcome him in the official capacity as mayor since he is in the office of the president."
ABC News' Josh Margolin and Meghan Keneally contributed to this report.
