President Obama said Thursday night he was surprised that he teared up when announcing new gun-control executive actions on Tuesday, but acknowledged that the massacre of young children in Newtown, Conn., in late 2012 still haunts him.
During a gun forum with Obama Thursday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper said many Americans were surprised when the president became so emotional when speaking about the shootings at Sandyhook Elementary in Newtown earlier this week.
“I was too, actually,” Obama acknowledged.
“I visited Newtown two days after what happened so it was still very raw. It was the only time I ever saw Secret Service cry on duty,” he said. “And it wasn’t just the parents, it was the siblings … [young children who] in some cases didn’t understand that their brother or sister wasn’t going to be coming home.”
That mass shooting, which took the lives of 20 children and six adults, was the worst day of his presidency, Obama said.
“It continues to haunt me,” he said.
