White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders got a little choked up today answering a teenage boy’s question about gun violence in schools.
Benje Choucroun, 13, turned up at the White House briefing room Wednesday with a question written down on a piece of paper.
“At my school, we recently had a lockdown drill,” said Choucroun, a student at Marin Country Day School in California. “One thing that affects my and others’ mental health is the worry that we or our friends could get shot at school.”
The boy continued: “Specifically, can you tell me what the administration has done and will do to prevent these senseless tragedies?”
Sanders appeared to be fighting tears as she answered the question.
“I think that as a kid and certainly as a parent, there is nothing more terrifying than for a kid to go to school and not feel safe, so I’m sorry that you feel that way,” she said, her voice starting to break. “This administration takes it seriously and the school safety commission that the president convened is meeting this week again — an official meeting to discuss the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids within our schools and to make them feel safe and to make their parents feel good about dropping them off.”
According to USA Today, Choucroun is in town to cover the White House Sports and Fitness Day for Time for Kids magazine:
This wasn’t the first time Sanders had gotten emotional in the White House briefing room.
After the Las Vegas massacre last fall, she got choked up as she recounted the heroic actions of survivors of the shooting. “Last night, thousands of our fellow citizens endured what the president has rightly called an act of pure evil in Las Vegas,” said Sanders during that briefing.
Her voice trembling, she continued: “The president has ordered our flags to half-staff and to further honor those lost in the attack we will hold a moment of silence on the South Lawn this afternoon at 2:45 Eastern this afternoon.”
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