Donald Trump Claims He’s Seen People Calling for Moments of Silence for the Dallas Shooter
During two separate discussions of Black Lives Matters protests on Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed that people have called for moments of silence for Micah Johnson, the gunman who killed five police officers in Dallas and injured nine others, without specifying who or where.
On an O’Reilly Factor segment filmed earlier in the day, Trump expressed disgust with the actions of the officers who shot Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and said it “could be” that police treat African-Americans differently, but criticized the Black Lives Matter movement as “dividing America.” Trump then said:
“I saw what they’ve said about police at various marches and rallies. I’ve seen moments of silence called for for this horrible human being who shot the policemen.”
Asked by the Fox News host if there was a divide between blacks and whites in America, Trump used this as an example of how “there would seem to be.” Then Trump went on to say:
“It’s getting more and more obvious and it’s very sad, very sad. When somebody called for a moment of silence to this maniac that shot the five police, you just see what’s going on. It’s a very, very sad situation.”
Trump repeated the claim Tuesday night, saying at a rally in Indiana:
“The other night you had 11 cities potentially in a blow-up stage. Marches all over the United States—and tough marches. Anger. Hatred. Hatred! Started by a maniac! And some people ask for a moment of silence for him. For the killer!”
(h\t Gawker)
Reality
No news reports appear to corroborate his claim and on social media, news agencies have reached out to the Trump campaign for comment and have not yet heard back.
- Gawker could only find two posts asking for a moment of silence for Johnson. No video.
- Talking Points Memo found searches on social media for people making such calls came up short, with no evidence of video.
- ABC News has been able to find one person who posted on two of his social media accounts calling for a moment of silence, but no evidence of video.
- Trump advisor Sam Clovis was forced to admit he had not witnessed what Trump said he has witnessed on CNN.
This is not the first time Donald Trump has made false claims of ethnic groups praising a tragedy.
In November 2015, Trump repeatedly defended his debunked claim that thousands of Muslims were celebrating in the streets of New Jersey after 9/11. Of course this also turned out to not be true.
Media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YlVyC4N87o
Full speech, 7/12/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewMhP-V1ed8