Edited video depicting Trump attack John McCain shown at conference
Oct 14, 2019, 9:20 AM | Updated: 2:58 pm
(AP Photos)
PHOENIX — An edited video showing President Donald Trump attacking the late U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, among others, was shown during a conference for the president’s supporters at his Miami resort last week, according to the New York Times.
The video, which the Times said appears to be a scene of a church massacre from “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” shows a character with Trump’s head edited onto it shooting and attacking people representing media organizations, lawmakers and others perceived to be the president’s foes.
The president is shown shooting someone with a Black Lives Matter logo in the head, striking McCain in the back of the neck and stabbing Rosie O’Donnell in the head.
According to the Times, the video was shown at a three-day conference hosted by the pro-Trump group American Priority.
McCain’s wife Cindy spoke out against the video Monday on Twitter.
Reports describing a violent video played at a Trump Campaign event in which images of reporters & @JohnMcCain are being slain by Pres Trump violate every norm our society expects from its leaders& the institutions that bare their names. I stand w/ @whca in registering my outrage
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) October 14, 2019
McCain’s daughter Meghan also posted about the video, saying that it could inspire violence.
“This video is disgusting and disturbing and any human with any moral clarity sees that,” she said.
Also you’d be screaming bloody murder if something like this was shown at an Adam Schiff or Obama event. So please for God’s sake just stop. This video is disgusting and disturbing and any human with any moral clarity sees that. https://t.co/3jU14QUnDQ
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) October 14, 2019
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona called the video “outrageous.”
“All Americans need to reject this kind of hateful rhetoric. We can disagree politically without degrading our culture with disgusting images like this,” she said in a statement.
“That’s a value Senator McCain taught us, and we need to remember it today.”
Former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said on Twitter that “for those of us who have seen a colleague shot, and have been shot at, there is no humor in this whatsoever.”
Officials associated with Trump and his campaign also denounced the video.
Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Twitter that the president had not seen the video as of Monday morning and based on what he had heard, condemned it.
Re: the video played over the weekend: The @POTUS @realDonaldTrump has not yet seen the video, he will see it shortly, but based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video.
— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) October 14, 2019
A spokesman for Trump’s campaign told the Times that the video was not made by the campaign, although the video reportedly included its logo. He said they don’t condone violence.
An American Priority spokesman told the paper that the organization denounced the video and was looking into how it was shown at the conference.
The president is known for criticizing the people and organizations represented in the video, including McCain, even after the Arizona senator’s death from brain cancer in August 2018.
Chief among Trump’s complaints was McCain’s vote against the GOP’s effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act in 2017.
The White House also reportedly told the Navy to keep the USS John S. McCain out of sight to avoid offending the president during a trip to Japan earlier this year.