Beto O’Rourke, who has aimed to rebuild his struggling campaign on a platform of confiscating firearms, declared Sunday at a rally in Plano, Texas, that President Trump has the “blood” of the 22 El Paso mass shooting victims “on his hands.”
O’Rourke specifically referenced a May rally in Florida — although commentators have disputed that Trump, in fact, endorsed mass shootings during his speech.
“At a rally in Florida in May of this year, the president was ranting and railing,” O’Rourke said, referring to Trump’s comments about illegal immigration. “He says, ‘How do we stop these people from coming here?’ Someone yells out, ‘shoot them.'”
EL PASO SHOOTER INDICTED ON CAPITAL MASS SHOOTING CHARGE
O’Rourke continued: “The crowd roars their assent. The president smiles and he laughs his consent. What the president of the United States is doing cannot be more dangerous. He has the blood of those 22 people in El Paso on his hands. And, the answer to this has got to be beyond defeating Donald Trump, as important as it is. It has to go to the root of this problem.”
O’Rourke went on to name white supremacy as an “existential threat.” – READ MORE