Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:10 pm
When President’s speak to American families that are grieving, it is important that they show empathy. This has been a regularly difficult thing for Donald Trump to do.
Earlier today, Kayleigh McEnany said that the President has unsuccessfully reached out to Jacob Blake’s family. When asked about Blake during a Monday press conference, Trump said that he had spoken with the family’s pastor.
The President said during the presser, “They wanted to have lawyers involved and I thought that was inappropriate so I didn’t do that. But I did speak with the pastor of the family.”
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Jacob Blake’s father was asked about Trump’s comments while appearing on CNN. We don’t have a family pastor,” he replied. “I don’t know who he talked to.”
Video:
Trump claimed that he talked to Jacob Blake’s family pastor, but Jacob Blake’s father said that the family does not have a pastor. pic.twitter.com/y484WQyU4D
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 31, 2020
"We don't have a family pastor," Jacob Blake's father says on CNN. "I don't know who he talked to."
Trump said at tonight's briefing he had spoken with the Blake family's pastor.
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) August 31, 2020
McEnany said during a Monday morning Fox News interview, “We are efforting outreach, have not been able to connect yet.”
The lawyer for Jacob Blake, Benjamin Crump, said that the White House‘s claim was simply untrue. He told MSNBC, “My office has received no calls to set up any kind of meeting.”
Blake’s father has been in touch with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He said of the Biden call:
Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family, that he identifies with what I’m going through. I didn’t have to keep telling him. He knew. It felt like he knew. It felt like they knew what was going on. And they didn’t act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us. And the tears that came from [Jacob Blake’s] mother in this talk with the Bidens, that was important.”
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
