Trump news: President fails to propose gun law change after mass shootings, as Obama warns leaders are feeding 'climate of fear'
Two mass shootings left nearly 30 victims dead over the weekend
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump referred to the shooting suspects in the El Paso and Dayton gun massacres as “mentally ill monsters”, before naming the wrong US city in Ohio.
The president blamed everything from the press to violent video games while addressing the nation after two gun attacks left nearly 30 victims dead over the weekend.
During the controversial speech on Monday, he called on the US to reject “racism” and “white supremacy,” while failing to address his own incendiary remarks launched against immigrants and his apparent opponents of colour, including Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Elijah Cummings.
Former president Barack Obama denounced the divisive language coming from “American leaders” in a statement posted to his Twitter account. In his first response to the Texas and Ohio shootings, Mr Obama says Americans must “soundly reject language” from any leader who “feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
A shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday killed 22 people, and a second attack outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday killed nine people. Investigators say the suspect in the El Paso massacre posted a racist, anti-immigrant message shortly before the attack.
The statement made by Barack Obama said: “Until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.”
In his address to the nation, Donald Trump said America “must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” adding that the FBI would investigate “hate crimes and domestic terrorism.”
Pressure is meanwhile mounting on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to recall the upper chamber of Congress from its summer recess to finally vote on a universal background checks bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in February.
US stocks plunged to their worst loss of the year Monday, as investors’ fears over Donald Trump’s trade war impact the market.
Catch-up on events as they happened
Condemning white supremacist violence, the president said: "These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul."
On gun control, he said he wanted "strong background checks" but gave few details of what this would entail.
Here's video of the president calling on the country to reject racism and white supremacy -
Donald Trump referred to the city of Toledo while addressing the nation this morning about a string of mass shootings across the country. The only problem is that none of those shootings happened in Toledo. While the latest mass shooting occurred in Dayton, Ohio, Mr Trump singled out the wrong Ohio city.
Here's video of Donald Trump addressing the wrong US city in Ohio while discussing the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio -
Twitter users are slamming the president for incorrectly referring to the mass shooting in the city of Dayton, Ohio as an attack on "Toledo," another Ohio city -
Democratic congressman Ted Lieu of California did not mince his words in reaction to President Trump's speech:
The president also apparently managed to blame video games for the rise in gun violence incidents nationwide - despite all other developed countries having access to those same games, without the similar rise in deadly attacks:
The death toll in El Paso, Texas has increased by one, according to the local police department -
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