President Trump has decided to lower all flags to half-staff in honor of the 5 victims killed last week in the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland. The order came just one day after the president initially declined Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley request to lower flags nationwide in honor of the 5 employees at Capital Gazette, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed, you know? ...Is there a cutoff for tragedy?” Mayor Gavin Buckley said Monday afternoon to The Baltimore Sun. “This was an attack on the press. It was an attack on freedom of speech. It’s just as important as any other tragedy.”
Annapolis Mayor Buckley said he thought the scope of the tragedy merited national recognition through the lowering of American flags nationwide. “It’s not as noticeable when a state flag is down but you still have your main flags at full mast. https://t.co/a317f5acaO
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) July 3, 2018
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed to NBC Washington that the White House made the decision after Trump heard of Buckley’s request. Trump “asked us to reach out and verify that they mayor had made the request. And when we did, the president asked that the flags be lowered immediately,” Sanders said.
On Friday, the president said that the killings at Capital Gazette“shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief.”
“Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job,” he mentioned.
Since taking office, Trump has previously been has been repeatedly hostile towards the press, often referring to journalists as the “enemy of the people”.
Why was the FBI giving so much information to the Fake News Media. They are not supposed to be doing that, and knowing the enemy of the people Fake News, they put their own spin on it - truth doesn’t matter to them!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
The national flag can be ordered only by the president or the state governor to be lowered, according to the US Flag Code. The governor is only able to so, though, if the commemorated deaths directly affected the state. NPR report that Maryland’s Governor Larry Hogan already lowered the state flag to half-staff on Friday through Monday.
Trump’s proclamation will have the flags at the White House, public buildings, military posts, and diplomatic buildings abroad until sunset Tuesday.