White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Wednesday accused an NBC reporter of saying President Trump played a role in this week's Kentucky school shooting, which led to two deaths and 18 injuries, by not speaking out enough against gun violence.
The exchange happened when NBC's Peter Alexander asked what Trump was doing to prevent future acts of gun violence. Sanders answered that the administration is trying to crack down on crime, and is charging more people with violent crimes, including gang members.
After Alexander pressed her again, she noted that the administration is reviewing its policy on bump stocks, the equipment that increases the rate of fire on semi-automatic weapons that was found at last year's Las Vegas shooting.
When Alexander asked whether Trump would tell the nation "how he feels" about these violent incidents, Sanders accused him of implying that Trump was somehow a cause of these incidents.
"The fact that you're basically accusing the president of being complicit in a school shooting is outrageous," she said.
Alexander replied by saying Trump has blamed Democrats for immigration problems.
"It's his advertisement that accuses the Democrats of being complicit on a different topic," he said. "I'm not accusing the president of anything..."
But Sanders said Trump blaming Democrats on immigration and Alexander blaming Trump for not doing enough to stop a school shooting are different things.
"Ignoring the fact of the safety and security of our borders is very different," she said. "The president has been very clear and instructed the top law enforcement agency in this country to crack down on crime and to do everything they can to prevent these types of things."
