Trump's chief of staff Mick Mulvaney downplayed guns as the cause of the El Paso shooting, blaming social media instead
- Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney commented on social media's potential role in events like Saturday's shooting in El Paso during an interview with ABC News.
- "We've given a wide audience to these people, we've made them celebrities, we've allowed them to spew their hate without any restrictions whatsoever," Mulvaney said.
- In response to Beto O'Rourke recently saying that President Trump uses rhetoric that "stokes racism," Mulvaney said: "There's no benefit here to trying to make this a political issue. This is a social issue and we need to address it as that."
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Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney elevated social media's potential role in events like Saturday's shooting in El Paso during an interview with ABC News.
"We've given a wide audience to these people, we've made them celebrities, we've allowed them to spew their hate without any restrictions whatsoever," Mulvaney said about social media, referencing the manifesto that the Texas shooter seemingly posted online.
Mulvaney continued: "I'm not saying we're going to regulate social media, I'm saying we're going to have a broad-based discussion about the causes here."
Read more: 29 dead in 2 mass shootings in Ohio and El Paso in less than 24 hours
"Are we going to talk about the role of guns? Certainly, we are," he added. "But to think that this is just a gun issue that many people make it out to be is not right. We've had guns in this country for hundreds of years, we haven't had this until recently and we need to figure out why."
In response to Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke recently saying that President Trump uses rhetoric that "stokes racism," Mulvaney said: "There's no benefit here to trying to make this a political issue. This is a social issue and we need to address it as that."
Mulvaney added that the shooter harbored feelings prior to Trump becoming the president, and said that the blame in shootings should be placed on "the people who pull the trigger."
"We need to figure out how to create less of those kinds of people as a society and not try to figure out who gets blamed going into the next election," he said.
"Mulvaney continued to double down on his stance, saying: "This is a serious problem ... but they are sick, sick people and the president knows that. I don't think it's fair to try and lay this at the feet of the president."
Kellyanne Conway also commented on the shootings and "name-calling" that has been occurring on social media.
"We need to come together, America," she tweeted. "Finger-pointing, name-calling & screaming with your keyboards is easy, yet... It solves not a single problem, saves not a single life. Working as one to understand depraved evil & to eradicate hate is everyone's duty. Unity. Let's do this."
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- Pete Buttigieg says white supremacists 'feel validated' by Trump, in response to El Paso shooting
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- The El Paso shooting suspect appears to have posted about his rampage on 8chan - and it shows how the massacre of innocent people is becoming 'gamified'