Democratic activist and Parkland survivor David Hogg went off on President Donald Trump in a direct-to-camera rant on CNN, calling the president a “damn coward” who’s afraid to change gun laws.
A mass shooter shot through the windows of Annunciation Roman Catholic church in Minneapolis on Wednesday, killing two children, ages 8 and 10, and injuring 17 others. The shooter, later identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, took their own life.
On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, anchor Pamela Brown hosted Hogg to discuss the shooting, and asked him what should be done to prevent this sort of violence.
Hogg responded by saying that Trump “has the power” to end gun violence, then addressed him directly to call him a “coward” who will do nothing to anger the National Rifle Association (NRA):
BROWN: I actually spoke with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara in the last hour, and I asked him about whether there were any missed warning signs. And he told me that in these early stages of the investigation there was nothing out of the ordinary that would have tripped up law enforcement in the lead-up to that attack and that would have triggered Minnesota’s red flag law when purchasing those weapons legally.So when you look at that, what more do you think could have been done to prevent these sorts of tragedies, in your view, like what
we just saw in Minnesota?HOGG: Well, I think first and foremost a basic thing that we — that Republicans and Democrats and Congress could do right now is in order to figure out how to prevent these shootings, you know what would be useful? Funding for research at the CDC and NIH.This is the leading cause of death for young people in this country right now.BROWN: Yes.HOGG: And historically it has gotten barely any funding. Typically, it’s only gotten about $25 million, compared to the billions of dollars that most other causes of death get at those agencies.We need more investigation and research into that, that we could pass simply as a reconciliation measure without having to deal with the filibuster with just 51 votes. That could be an easy thing that we could do, but also obviously more information is coming out about this.But the bottom line is this. Donald Trump has the power to do something about this. After Parkland, he repeatedly said, “you guys are cowards. You’re not going to do anything because you’re afraid of the NRA. We need to do something about guns.”That is what he said. And then he met with the NRA and did nothing. Why? Because he is a coward.And my message to Donald Trump is that. You are a coward, sir! You are not going to do anything about this issue because you are terrifiedof the NRA, even though you have the power to save tens of thousands of lives.You are the strongest president in modern American history, with a choke hold over your party and both chambers of Congress. You have the power to end this, but you are not going to because you’re a damn coward!BROWN: OK.
Watch above via CNN’s The Situation Room.