President Donald Trump is taking heat from former U.S. intelligence officials for taking a very soft tone with the Saudi government after Friday’s shooting at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.
Not long after the shooter was identified as a second lieutenant in the Saudi Arabian military, the president tweeted out words of sympathy from the Saudi king after a phonecall, writing, "The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people."
Trump, however, failed to express any outrage at the shooting that left three dead and eight injured, which caught the eye of intel officials questioning Trump's allegiances.
“Imagine if the attacker had been Iranian, a refugee, or an undocumented immigrant — the response would be very different,” tweeted Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served on the National Security Council. “We have a president who contours policy responses to his own interests. It’s always personal interests before national interests — even in times of tragedy.”
Mieke Eoyang, vice president of national security think tank Third Way, questioned the president's priorities.
"There may be snarky responses to Trump's tweets about the call with King Salman. I will not make them. Let me just say: I hope the President has more concern and time for the loved ones of those killed than he did for the King," she wrote.
Trump has already been under fire for his lack of response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, where the president took the word of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over his own intel agencies.
You can see the tweets below: