President Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff until sundown Tuesday to honor the five victims killed in a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., last Thursday.
“Our Nation shares the sorrow of those affected by the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. Americans across the country are united in calling upon God to be with the victims and to bring aid and comfort to their families and friends,” the proclamation read.
The proclamation came after reports that Trump had turned down Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley’s request to fly American flags at half-staff to honor the victims, as Trump has for previous mass shootings.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed, you know? … Is there a cutoff for tragedy?” Buckley told the Baltimore Sun, which is owned by the same company as the Capital Gazette, on Monday. “This was an attack on the press. It was an attack on freedom of speech. It’s just as important as any other tragedy.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN on Tuesday that “as soon as the president directly heard the request made by the mayor, he asked that we reach out and verify that the mayor had made the request. When we did, the president asked that the flags be lowered immediately.”
She said she was “not sure about the process” that led Buckley to say his request was denied by the president, and there appeared to be confusion on Buckley’s end as well.
“I thought that was just something that I could do as mayor, but we found out that wasn’t true. We understood that maybe the lines of communication might have been down over the weekend, so we waited for the weekend to pass and then we waited throughout Monday, and then on Monday afternoon we were told that it had not been – it wasn’t going to happen,” he told CNN.
The White House did not respond the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Trump has had a tense relationship with the press since he announced his candidacy for president, often calling outlets who publish negative stories about him “fake news.” After the shooting, multiple journalists called out Trump for his anti-press rhetoric.
Trump condemned the shooting on Friday, saying “journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their jobs.”
