President Donald Trump isn’t to blame for the slaughter of 11 worshipers at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh — but “needs to be more clear” and less “caustic” in his rhetoric, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Sunday.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Lankford said he saw “no connection” between the president’s anti-globalist views and those of shooter Robert Bowers.
"I don't see where President Trump is somehow to blame for this,” he said.
“I don't see any connection where you would connect the president to this particular shooting just like I wouldn't see [one]… connecting Democrats when person walked up to baseball game last year and said, ‘Is this where the Republicans are practicing?’ then opened fired on them simply because they were Republicans,” he added, referring to grave wounding of Rep. Steve Scalise in June 2017.
Yet Lankford said Trump “needs to be more clear in his rhetoric, and doesn't need to be as caustic in his rhetoric.”
“That's the way he chooses to be able to communicate these things, and I don't think it's always helpful in that,” he said.
"I think the president should, all of us in Congress, anyone in public life, should set a good role model example what it means to have respectful dialogue,” he added.
Lankford pointed out that protecting against domestic terrorism like the Pittsburgh massacre is difficult because of privacy protections.
"International terrorism we're very aggressive on,” he said.
“The most difficult thing we as Americans have the basic right of protection of privacy and we should have that right of protection of privacy,” he said. “But that also means [it’s] very difficult for law enforcement.”
“The government is not watching people,” he said. “People live their normal lives. [Bowers] doesn't have a criminal record, he's not on anyone's radar, very difficult to be able to track someone within the United States that snaps and takes off and does something like this."
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