Donald Trump may be president of the United States, but he still thinks like a reality-TV host.
So to invite the grieving parents of a British teenager killed in a car crash involving an American woman to visit the White House — and then spring a shocking surprise on them — must have seemed like a good idea.
It wasn’t.
Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles are the parents of 19-year-old Harry Dunn who was killed on his motorcycle, allegedly because Anne Sacoolas was driving on the wrong side of the road in Britain. Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. official, then claimed diplomatic immunity and returned home rather than face the British court system.
The Dunns were in the U.S. seeking justice for their son.
Trump had his national security adviser send them an “urgent” invitation to meet with a “senior official” at the White House.
They arrived yesterday and were startled to learn that they were meeting the president himself, but pleased, because it might mean help from him in their quest.
Then Trump told the Dunns that Sacoolas was also there, and he wanted to introduce them.
They flatly refused.
“It took your breath away when he mentioned it the first time,” Tim Dunn told the Washington Post.
Yes: the first time. Trump persisted, pressuring the Dunns to go along with his scheme to introduce them to Sacoolas, in the Oval Office, with photographers present.
According to Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger, they felt “ambushed” on learning that Sacoolas was in the next room, reports the Daily Beast.
“They had envisioned meeting her one day,” Seiger said, but “only on British soil” and “only with mediators, counselors, and their legal team in tow,” the Daily Beast says.
According to the Post, Trump had previously called Dunn’s death a “terrible accident,” but that driving on the wrong side of the road just “happens.”
“The Dunn case has triggered widespread controversy in Britain and thrust the concept of diplomatic immunity under the spotlight, triggering a debate about whom it should protect and what exactly it should cover,” the Post says.
