Promising to “do something about this horrible situation,” President Trump on Wednesday met with survivors of last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, to listen to their accounts of the tragedy. Among those who joined the president were Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“We want to hear your hearts today,” Pence told the gathered students, parents, and teachers. “I encourage you to be candid and be vulnerable, and share with us not only your personal experience, but what it is you would have us do.”
Trump promised the White House would consider many measures to address school shootings, including being “very strong on background checks,” putting “a very strong emphasis on the mental health,” and arming select teachers and school administrators. At several points, he polled the survivors, family members, and educators in the room for their opinions on various policy proposals.
But the meeting was less a policy workshop than an opportunity for many afflicted by the tragedy to share their grief. Julia Cordover, the student body president of the high school where the shooting occurred, said that “to know that a lot of people do not have the opportunity to be here still is mindblowing.”
“There’s definitely a lot more to go, but I’m just grateful to be here,” Cordover said. “No child, no person, should have to go through something so horrific and tragic.”
Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed last week, grew emotional as he spoke, telling President Trump that “we as a country failed our children.”
“It should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it,” said Pollack, a Trump supporter himself. “How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I’m not going to sleep until it is fixed. And Mr. President, we’ll fix it.”
Mark It Down—“In addition to what we’re going to do about background checks, we’re going to go very strong into age, age of purchase, and we’re also going to go very strong into the mental health aspect.” —President Donald Trump, February 21, 2018
Photo of the Day
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Samuel Zeif weeps during a listening session hosted by President Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House February 21, 2018. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The White House will be well represented at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins Thursday just outside of Washington. Vice President Pence will be the first major speaker Thursday morning, followed by a conversation on the main stage with White House counsel Don McGahn and an interview with the director of the Domestic Policy Council, Andrew Bremberg.
Olympics Watch—Ivanka Trump, the White House official and daughter of President Trump, will be leading the U.S delegation to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. According to senior administration officials, Ivanka will leave for Seoul on Thursday on a commercial flight, arriving in the South Korean capital on Friday. There, she will meet and dine with President Moon Jae-in.
Joining Ivanka on the trip will be Idaho senator Jim Risch, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary; General Benson Brooks, the commander of the United States Forces Korea; Mark Knapper, the top U.S. diplomat at the American Embassy in South Korea; and Sgt. Shauna Rohbock, a national guardswoman who is a former Olympic bobsledder. The delegation will attend a so-far undetermined number of athletic competitions in Pyeongchang, as well as the closing ceremonies on Sunday.
A senior administration official said there are no plans for anyone from the U.S. delegation to meet with a member of the North Korean government. The Washington Post reported this week that Vice President Mike Pence, who led the American delegation to the opening ceremonies, had agreed to a “secret meeting” with Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and an official in the government, and Kim Yong-nam, another top official. “[T]he North Koreans pulled out of the scheduled meeting, according to Pence’s office,” reported the Post.
The administration also knocked down reports in South Korean media that Ivanka would meet with defectors from North Korea, with a senior official calling them “incorrect.”
Must-Read of the Day—From New York: “Worst Roommate Ever”
From the Department of Terrible Ideas comes the latest Major League Baseball rule-change float: to allow managers to change the batting order in the ninth inning. Allahpundit at Hot Air has the appropriate take-down:
Song of the Day—“Moon River” by Frank Ocean
