On CNN Thursday, grieving British parents Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles were shown footage of how President Donald Trump reacted to the motor vehicle death of their teenage son Harry at the hands of American diplomatic wife Anne Sacoolas.
Trump has refused to waive diplomatic immunity for Sacoolas to face punishment for her actions — and tried to defuse the situation by arranging a surprise meeting between Sacoolas and the parents which fortunately never took place.
"Radd, as you watched all of that play out, describe the mood in the room and what you left feeling after that — after that surprise," said anchor Alisyn Camerota.
"Just incredible because, again, we didn’t ask for this meeting," said family spokesman Radd Sieger. "We would have happily engaged in a discussion to go to the White House eventually. But with a plan who we were meeting. Literally, out of the blue, my phone rang and I was asked to — whether we would be prepared to come down to the White House. So that context is important because we were busy doing our thing. We weren’t prepared for it. Four hours later, to be sat in the Oval Office, imagine how — it’s intimidating for me, let alone my good friends here. And then very quickly, the atmosphere changed. He’s a very forceful character. I’ve got her here. She’s in the next room. You’re going to meet her. And there was no sort of thought about what these people were going through. I presume if there was a psychiatrist there, he would have said, no way. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’m protecting these people from harm. You do that in a controlled environment. Not in the Oval Office with the cameras and henchmen snarling at us and big Secret Service people. I mean it was terrifying."
"I’d suggest that’s not a good way to help people recover from the loss of their son," said Sieger. "And I would have thought that would have been the priority when President Trump met these good people yesterday. Not to have a photo op which, having now having 48 hours to process it, it’s clear to me what he was trying to do."
"And he also, I think, tried to explain the accident in which your son was killed," added Camerota. "Let us play this moment."
"She lost and they lost their son," said Trump in the clip. "I believe it was going down the wrong way, because that happens in Europe. You go to Europe and the roads are opposite. And it’s very tough, if you are from the United States, you do make that decision to make a right turn where you’re supposed to make a left turn. The roads are opposite. And she said that’s what happened. That happens to a lot of people, by the way."
"What did that statement mean to you?" asked Camerota.
"Just stating the obvious," said Charlotte, as Tim was overcome with emotion. "You know, that he just still doesn’t really understand, although it is an accident, how much it’s broken us as a family. And she still needs to face the justice system and come back to the UK and see us on our soil."
Watch below:
