President Trump will not attend the annual congressional baseball game on Thursday after a gunman opened fire at a field where Republicans were practicing on Wednesday morning, a White House official told the Washington Examiner.
“There was never a plan to attend,” the official said. “[F]or security reasons it wouldn’t be possible to attend at this point.”
The baseball game, a longstanding and bipartisan tradition, is set to take place at Nationals Park as scheduled on Thursday.
Political observers speculated Wednesday in the wake of the shooting that Trump should attend the game as a show of solidarity with the Republicans who suffered injuries in the attack.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a fmr FBI agent, tells me “the game should go on, ESPN should broadcast it live, and the pres. should attd”
— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 14, 2017
That should be quite a moment. I assume Ryan and Pelosi, and McConnell and Schumer, will attend. Trump? (And Hillary?) https://t.co/XbAm5vrGJk
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 14, 2017
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., was shot in the hip Wednesday morning along with an aide to Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, and at least two Capitol Police officers.
The shooter, identified as James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Ill., died of his injuries after a shootout with police.
Presidents do not regularly attend the traditional congressional baseball game, which pits Republican members against their Democratic colleagues. However, former President Obama made an appearance at the 2015 game as he worked to drum up support on Capitol Hill for his Trade Promotion Authority bill.
