President Trump spent more than an hour on Thursday offering condolences to families affected by the deadly school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, two weeks ago — the latest mass killing in a US school.
While Trump was in Texas, his newly formed Commission on School Safety met near DC. The panel is part of the president’s answer to the spate of school shootings after his flirtation with tougher gun laws ended with no new legislation.
White House spokesman Raj Shah 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,” Shah told Fox News. “And, you know, the president wants to extend his condolences and talk about the issue of school safety.”
Trump did not publicly share what he told grieving families and local leaders in a closed-door meeting at a Coast Guard base outside Houston.
“He’s the president of the United States, but he’s also a father,” Shah said. “He’s also a husband, and he obviously understands what it’s like, you know, to love someone and then lose someone.
“I think he just, you know, he talks to families, he listens and he wants to learn.”
After the meeting, Trump headed to a fundraiser at a Houston hotel.
After 17 people were killed in the February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Trump pledged to work to improve school safety, but he has not called for new gun control legislation.
With Post wires