Trump pays tribute at Pittsburgh synagogue after mass shooting

U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump paid homage Tuesday to each of the 11 people slain in the worst instance of anti-Semitic violence in American history.

As the Trumps placed their tributes outside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, protesters nearby shouted that the president was not welcome.

The emotional, dissonant scene reflected the increasingly divided nation that Trump leads, one gripped by a week of political violence and hate and hurtling toward contentious midterm elections on Nov. 6.

The Trumpslit candles for each victim inside avestibule of the synagogue. Shouts of "Words matter!" and "Trump, go home!" could be heard from demonstrators gathered not far from where a gunman had opened fire on Saturday.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who had been conducting services when the shots rang out, gestured at the white Star of David posted for each victim. At each, the president placed a stone, a Jewish custom usually done at the graves of the dead, while the first lady added a flower. They were trailed by first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who are Jewish.

Near the synagogue, flowers, candles and chalk drawings filled the corner, including a small rock painted with the number "6,000,011," adding the victims this week to the estimated number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The Trumps later spent more than an hour at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where some of the victims are recovering. The couple's motorcade passed several hundred protesters on the street and a sign that said "It's your fault." Inside, Trump visited with wounded police officers and injured members of thecongregation but did not appear to meet with relatives of the deceased.

The White House said Trump was coming to "express the support of the American people and to grieve with the Pittsburgh community." But local and religious leaders were divided on whether Trump should be there at all.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a Democrat, told reporters before the visit was announced that the White House ought to consult with the families of the victims about their preferences and asked that the president not come during a funeral. Neither he nor Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf planned to appear with Trump.

Squirrel Hill resident Paul Carberry, 55, said Trump should not have visited until the dead were buried, and he decried the president's divisive rhetoric. "He didn't pull the trigger, but his verbiage and actions don't help," Carberry said.

But Shayna Marcus, a nurse who rushed to the synagogue on Saturday to help with the wounded, said she felt that the president was taking an unfair portion of the blame.

"I don't think focusing on Trump is the answer or on politics," said Marcus, whose four yarmulke-wearing boys carried signs in support of the president.

The White House invited the top four congressional leaders to join Trump in Pittsburgh, but none accompanied him.

A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he already had events in his home state, pushing back on the suggestion that he declined. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan's office said he could not attend on short notice. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also opted not to participate.

Questions have long swirled about the president's credibility as a unifier. Since his 2016 campaign for the White House, Trump has at times been slow to denounce white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other hate-filled individuals and groups that found common cause with his nationalistic political rhetoric.

Trump travelled to the historic hub of the city's Jewish community as the first funerals were scheduled to be held for the victims, who range in age from 54 to 97. He is expected to meet with first responders and community leaders. The death toll includes two brothers who served as greeters welcoming worshipers to services, a husband and wife, professors, dentists and a physician. It was not immediately clear whether Trump would meet with any family members.

Those who live in the tight-knit community were uncertain about whether they wanted the presidential visit. To Marianne Novy, Trump wasn't wanted "unless he really changes his ways." For David Dvir, politics should take a pause for grief: "It's our president, and we need to welcome him."

Barry Werber, 76, who said he survived the massacre by hiding in a dark storage closet as the gunman rampaged through the building, said he hoped Trump wouldn't visit, noting that the president has embraced the politically fraught label of "nationalist." Werber said the Nazis were nationalists.

"It's part of his program to [incite] his base," Werber said, and "bigots are coming out of the woodwork."

Novy, 73, a retired college English professor, said she signed an open letter asking Trump not to come to Pittsburgh. "His language has encouraged hatred and fear of immigrants, which is part of the reason why these people were killed," she said.

Protesters march in Pittsburgh during president's visit.

President's visit to Pittsburgh sparks protest

6 years ago

Duration 0:48

Protesters express anger at Trump's visit, speak out against hate

Just minutes before the synagogue attack, the shooter apparently used social media to rage against HIAS, a Jewish organization that resettles refugees under contract with the U.S. government.

Dvir, 52, the owner of Murray Avenue Locksmith in Squirrel Hill, said of Trump: "I think he made some mistakes, but he is a great president." He said it would be "a shame" if the community protested the president's visit.

Asked Monday if Trump had done enough to condemn white nationalism, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president "has denounced racism, hatred and bigotry in all forms on a number of occasions."

"Some individuals they're grieving, they're hurting," she said. "The president wants to be there to show the support of this administration for the Jewish community. The rabbi said that he is welcome as well."

Beth Melena, campaign spokesperson for Wolf, said the governor did not plan to return to Pittsburgh as part of Trump's visit on Tuesday. She said he based his decision on input from the victims' families, who told him they did not want the president to be there on the day their loved ones were being buried.

"Community leaders expressed to the governor that they did not feel it was appropriate for Trump to come, so the governor made a decision not to join him on his visit out of respect for the families and the community," Melena said.

President 'always welcome'

But the rabbi who was conducting Sabbath services at the Tree of Life synagogue when the shooter opened fire, made clear the president would be welcome, telling CNN: "The president of the United States is always welcome. I am a citizen. He is my president. He is certainly welcome."

Shulamit Bastacky, 77, a Holocaust survivor and neighbour of Melvin Wax, one of the people killed Saturday,expressed hope that fraught political issues and protests would not overshadow the remembrances.

"This is not the place to do it," she said. "You can do the political part everywhere else. Not at this time. This would be like desecrating those people who were killed. They were murdered because they were Jews.

"You can protest later on. To me, it's sacred what happened here."