White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany admonished reporters for repeatedly asking her about the Confederate flag and a tweet from President Trump instead of the violence that broke out in major cities over Independence Day weekend.
“Finally, I would end with this: I was asked probably 12 questions about the Confederate flag. This president is focused on action. I’m a little dismayed that I didn’t receive one question on the deaths in this country this weekend,” McEnany told members of the media during a press briefing on Monday. “I didn’t receive one question about New York City shootings doubling for the third straight week and over the last seven days, shootings skyrocket by 142%. Not one question. I didn’t receive one question about five children who were killed.”
Dozens of people were either killed or injured in major cities, such as Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, over the holiday weekend. Several of the victims were children.
Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill and in the media have demanded that Democrats, who lead many of the country’s largest cities, do more to curb the spread of violent crime in their communities.
“Chicago is an example — it is worse than Afghanistan,” Trump said of crime in cities during a recent Fox News town hall. “They want help. These cities, it’s like living in hell.”
Reporters spent much of Monday’s briefing asking McEnany questions about Trump’s tweet earlier that morning suggesting NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace should apologize after an FBI investigation found no hate crime was committed against him following a report of a noose being left in his garage at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
Wallace never saw the noose and said he was relieved to learn federal authorities deemed no hate crime had been committed.
“Why is the president so supportive of flying the Confederate flag?” NBC reporter Peter Alexander asked.
“Does [Trump] think it was a mistake for NASCAR to ban [the Confederate flag]?” asked ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl.
McEnany said Trump was not expressing support for or disapproval of NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag from all races and events, but rather was condemning a “rush to judgment” by the media as the case unfolded.
“It was an aggregate to stand against the rush to judgment to call something a hate crime before the facts were out when clearly, the media was wrong about this,” McEnany said. “He believes the truth matters. … Most Americans are great, hard-working people.”
In June, the press secretary was asked repeatedly about Trump’s usage of the term “kung flu” to describe the coronavirus following a similarly violent Father’s Day weekend. Reporters at the June 22 briefing asked her no questions about that weekend’s violence.
McEnany, who has blamed Democrats for the violent crime in major cities, ended Monday’s conference with reporters by quoting an Atlanta man whose 8-year-old daughter was shot and killed in the city over the weekend.
“I will leave you with this remark by a dad. It broke my heart,” McEnany said. “They say ‘black lives matter’? You killed a child. She didn’t do nothing to nobody,” she quoted.
“We need to be focused on securing our streets, making sure no lives are lost, because all black lives matter,” McEnany said. “Thank you.”
