WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump said he thought the grieving parents of a British teenager who was killed in a car crash involving an American diplomat's wife wanted to meet with the woman during a White House visit. But Harry Dunn's parents said they were stunned by the surprise proposition.
Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn traveled to Washington on Tuesday seeking to have the woman's diplomatic immunity lifted. Instead, Trump and national security adviser Robert O'Brien surprised the family by inviting Anne Sacoolas to the White House and suggesting Dunn's parents meet with her in front of the White House press corps.
Attorney Mark Stephens said the couple had no idea Sacoolas would be in the building when they were there Tuesday and were stunned by the proposition. He said the couple wants to meet with Sacoolas at some point, but not in a surprise meeting staged for reporters.
"If there's going to be a meeting like that, it should not involve a surprise, a jack-in-the-box, pop-out-of-a-circus-tent meeting seven weeks after the loss," said Radd Seiger, a retired lawyer who is a neighbor of the family and accompanied them to the White House. "For this to happen, you would want some heavy-duty therapy and you want to meet in a neutral environment."
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Trump told reporters Wednesday that he thought the family had wanted to meet with Sacoolas but that "they weren't ready for it" Tuesday.
"It was very sad, to be honest," he said of their conversation. "They lost their son."
Trump said he had spoken with Sacoolas and that she had been waiting in a room just off the Oval Office when he made the offer to Dunn's family.
"They weren't ready for it," Trump said. "But I did offer. I spoke with Boris. He asked me if I'd do that. And I did it," Trump said, referring to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "Unfortunately, when we had everybody together, they decided not to meet. Perhaps they had lawyers involved by that time. I don't know exactly."
Pressed on why he thought that was something they would welcome, Trump said that "based on what I saw, they wanted to meet. But now they say they only want to meet if they're in the U.K. And that'll be up to them. But I did meet the family, and I expressed condolences on behalf of our country."
Trump also said Sacoolas told him that she had been driving on the wrong side of the road accidentally -- something Trump said "happens in Europe" because drivers in England drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. Trump told reporters last week that he had once done so himself.
Harry Dunn, 19, was killed in August when his motorcycle collided with a car allegedly driven by Sacoolas outside a British air force base in southern England used by the U.S. military.
Seiger said the family received a call from the White House on Tuesday inviting them to meet with a "very senior government official" whose identity was not revealed.
They immediately got on a train to Washington. "The mood was quite buoyant. We were looking forward to it," Seiger said in a telephone interview from Manhattan, N.Y., where the family returned after the Oval Office meeting.
Instead, the family was subjected to what Seiger described as a high-pressure effort to persuade them to meet with Sacoolas -- a characterization the White House rejected.
"We were ambushed," he said of the situation, putting most of the blame on O'Brien, who replaced former national security adviser John Bolton last month after serving as the president's chief hostage negotiator. "When we said, 'No,' he erupted in fury in front of my poor people. This guy was a thug, and he was intimidating," Seiger said.
On the other hand, Seiger gave Trump credit for demonstrating what he believed was genuine sympathy for the family's circumstances. Trump held Charles' hand at one point and agreed to try to find a way to help her.
"He was absolutely charming," Seiger said of Trump. "He was very warm and offered a strong handshake and embrace. He made them feel comfortable, and I was very impressed with his personal touch."
Seiger said the family is still emotionally vulnerable and that they were taken aback by the offer to meet Sacoolas. While Trump appeared to understand their reluctance, he said, O'Brien continued to insist, even after they made clear that any meeting would have to happen back in Britain.
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham rejected that characterization and said that after the family declined the meeting, "no one asked again."
Sacoolas left Britain shortly after the crash, though police released a statement saying she had previously told them she had no plans to depart.
A statement previously released on Sacoolas' behalf said she intended to continue cooperating with authorities.
"Anne is devastated by this tragic accident. No loss compares to the death of a child, and Anne extends her deepest sympathy to Harry Dunn's family," it read.
A Section on 10/17/2019