Trump Attacks Obama On Twitter Over El Paso Statement

President Donald Trump criticized former President Barack Obama over his statement on mass shootings, tweeting a quote from Fox & Friends co-anchor Brian Kilmeade. Trump also claimed himself to be the “least racist person” in the world.

Trump responded to Obama’s statements regarding the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, which left at least 32 people dead, with edited quotes that Kilmeade had made hours before on his show “Fox and Friends” referring to a 2012 mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

“Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control,” Trump’s tweet said. “Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.”

The president followed it up another tweet, this time a quip from Kilmade’s morning show colleague Ainsley Earhardt.

“It’s political season and the election is around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative,” it said. Trump also added that he was the least racist person and that Black, Hispanic and Asian unemployment is now the lowest in the history of the United States.

Trump, who will travel to the lone star state Wednesday, championed more mental health treatment and warned against the spread of “racist hate” on social media and the dangers of violence on the internet. He also condemned white supremacy and argued guns are not the problem while advocating capital punishment for mass shooters.

In the wake of the shootings, Obama had issued a lengthy statement Monday calling Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” It immediately started trending on Twitter under the hashtag #mypresident, with scores of people praising what Obama said. The statement did not mention Trump or any other politician by name.

The Twitter comments come at a time when Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads over regulations regarding gun purchase, with both parties proposing their version of the ‘red-flag’ bills in Congress to bring down gun violence.

The suspect in the El Paso shooting, a 21 year old white man, is suspected of authoring and posting an anti-Hispanic and racist "manifesto" on the message board of 8chan before going on the rampage. The candidates in the Democratic presidential primary blamed Trump and his hate- and racism-spreading politics and anti-immigrant rhetoric for inspiring such shootings.