Fox News reports Tim O’Brien, a former campaign aide for Mike Bloomberg and a Bloomberg opinion writer, is coming under fire for posting side-by-side photos of Joe Biden at a war memorial on Memorial Day and a photo of President Trump golfing on a different day with the caption, “Different approaches to Memorial Day.”
The photo of Joe Biden was taken when Biden visited Delaware Memorial Bridge Veteran’s Memorial Park. It was the former vice president’s first outing since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He and wife Jill Biden, both wearing masks, laid a wreath at a memorial wall commemorating war veterans from Delaware and New Jersey.
Trump played golf over the weekend for the first time since early March, but spent Monday honoring service members at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia and Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
“Together, we will vanquish the virus, and America will rise from this crisis to new, and even greater heights,” Trump said at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine. “As our brave warriors have shown us from the nation’s earliest days – in America, we are the captains of our own fate.
“No obstacle, no challenge, and no threat is a match for the sheer determination of the American people,” Trump continued. “This towering spirit permeates every inch of the hallowed soil beneath our feet.”
“This is a lie and you know it,” tweeted National Republican Senatorial Committee senior advisor Matt Whitlock of the misleading side-by-side.
“Truly is remarkable how one can be golfing at the same time holding a memorial in Arlington,” tweeted another user, along with a video of Trump at the cemetery.
The Students for Trump page called O’Brien the “CEO of fake news.”
.@TimOBrien is CEO of fake news. https://t.co/mtrHUBIIYl pic.twitter.com/PFBQmpmzNZ
— Students For Trump (@TrumpStudents) May 26, 2020
Disgusting that you’re using Memorial Day, where we should be spending the day to honor our fallen heroes, to push a false narrative that Trump didn’t honor our troops at all to score retweets, instead of acknowledging that he did spend time at Arlington National Cemetery today. https://t.co/NMr3yOO6Mo pic.twitter.com/WsrYx8thCf
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) May 25, 2020
Per CBSNews, President Trump began observing Memorial Day with a tweet Monday morning: “HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!” He then participated at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, and also attended and spoke at a ceremony at Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
Mr. Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Monday morning. Although the wreath laying is usually part of a ceremony that involves a presidential address, Mr. Trump did not deliver a speech at the cemetery, which is closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The wreath laying lasted about five minutes. Mr. Trump walked up to the wreath and stood silently before it, reached out and briefly placed his hand on the wreath, and then saluted.
Pres Trump stands for moment of silent reflection at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. pic.twitter.com/mJotv8a0ej
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 25, 2020
Flags flew at half staff at the White House and other public buildings in Washington over the weekend to honor the nearly 100,000 who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S.
