Trump to visit El Paso mass shooting site, in spite of Dems' warning to stay away

El Paso, Texas, Mayor Dee Margo told reporters on Monday that President Trump will visit the city on Wednesday, even as several prominent Democrats indirectly blamed the president for Saturday's mass shooting there -- with some warning him, in frank terms, to stay away.
News of Trump's planned appearance teed up a potentially bitter national political moment just four days after suspected gunman Patrick Crusius, 21, allegedly opened fire at a Walmart and killed 22 people while injuring more than two dozen others.
"He is president of the United States," Margo, a Republican, told reporters. "So in that capacity, I will fulfill my obligations as mayor of El Paso, and hope that if we are expressing specifics that we can get him to come through for us."
The mayor said he anticipated "political spin" and was “already getting the emails and the phone calls” from individuals "with lots of time on their hands," but that his focus remains on his community, not politics. He added that Trump had called and was "very gracious" and offered any support necessary.
“We’re dealing with a tragedy of 22 people who have perished by the hateful, evil act of a white supremacist,” Margo said. “I don’t know how we deal with evil. I don’t have a textbook for dealing with it other than the Bible.
"I’m sorry. We are going to go through this," he continued. "The president is coming out. I will meet with the president. I guess for people who have lots of time on their hands, I will deal with the emails and phone calls.”
The White House has not confirmed Trump's schedule, or whether he will also visit Dayton, Ohio -- where a gunman who reportedly supported the violent left-wing group Antifa, as well as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, killed nine people over the weekend. But the Federal Aviation Administration has advised pilots of a presidential visit Wednesday to both El Paso and Dayton.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, told reporters that she had "not gotten a call" about a presidential visit as of late Monday, and didn't have more details.
But both before and after Margo's announcement, several Democrats forcefully urged Trump not to visit El Paso. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who represents the district that is home to the Walmart where Saturday’s shooting took place, lashed out at the president on Monday morning -- placing some of the blame for the weekend’s tragedy at his feet.
“The president has made my community and my people the enemy,” she told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Greg Zanis prepares crosses to place at a makeshift memorial for victims of a mass shooting at a shopping complex Monday in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

“He has told the country that we are people to be feared, people to be hated," Escobar continued. "From my perspective, he is not welcome here. He should not come here while we are in mourning.”
And Democratic presidential candidate Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, urged Margo in a televised interview to "quietly" tell Trump that he is not "welcome" in the city, because of his rhetoric on immigration.
Ryan has escalated his language in the last 24 hours, as he struggles to raise his political profile. He tweeted “Fck me” after Trump mistakenly, at one point in his televised remarks earlier in the day, said the Ohio shooting took place in Toledo and not Dayton.
For Ryan, the language appeared to be part of a deliberate approach: Earlier Monday, the longshot candidate went on CNN and tore into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying, "Mitch McConnell needs to get off his a-- and do something.” On Sunday, he tweeted: “Republicans need to get their s--- together and stop pandering to the NRA. Period.”
Sanders also called out the president, saying "I say to President Trump, please stop the racist anti-immigrant rhetoric. Stop the hatred in this country which is creating the kind of violence that we see."
In 2017, a far-left Sanders supporter fired upon a Republican congressional baseball practice, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and injuring three others before U.S. Capitol Police took him down. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said the gunman was screaming, "This is for healthcare." Sanders did not take responsibility for that episode.
Trump, for his part, on Monday called for reforms at the intersection of mental health and gun laws -- including so-called "red flag laws" to take guns from those deemed a public risk -- in the wake of the back-to-back mass shootings over the weekend, which left at least 31 people dead in total.
The Trump administration previously enacted an unprecedented ban on firearm bump stocks that enable weapons to fire with greater rapidity, like machine guns -- and the ban was recently upheld by the Supreme Court. The move came after a 2017 massacre in Las Vegas, Nevada killed 58 people.
In unequivocal terms, the president on Monday also condemned white supremacy, responding to reports that the shooter in El Paso wrote a racist manifesto ahead of the violence. The manifesto specifically said that Trump's rhetoric was not to blame for the shooting, and said the shooter's views "predate" Trump's presidential campaign.
However, some observers cautioned that mass shooters are increasingly using disingenuous manifestos primarily as a means to cause division and sow political discord, rather than to advance a particular agenda. Crusius became the third mass shooter this year believed to have posted to the website 8Chan, which is a haven for both ironic trolls and racists, prior to going on a shooting rampage.
"The first mistake people are making is to assume the creep meant anything he said in his manifesto," wrote columnist Brian Cates. "Something new has been added into the mix in the last year and we have to recognize it: Mass shootings done for **fun** as the ultimate troll where these [shooters] write confusing manifestos and then sit back & watch the fun as both sides claim he belongs to the other."
Cates pointed out that the Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooter's manifesto contained a mixture of left-wing and right-wing rhetoric, and by its own explicit terms, was intended to cause international political division. The purported El Paso manifesto, like the New Zealand shooter's manifesto, also espoused eco-fascist principles and lamented the destruction of the environment.
Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden falsely suggested after Trump's remarks that Monday was the first time the president had condemned white supremacy.
Later, McConnell – a Republican who has been lambasted by Democrats for refusing to allow votes on gun control legislation – said Monday he is willing to consider “bipartisan” solutions in the wake of the mass shootings, though he emphasized that he opposes gun control policies that infringe “on Americans’ constitutional rights.”
Democrats have been demanding McConnell recall Congress from its current recess, which is slated to run to the second week of September, to address the matter.
The political fight over Trump's visit came amid a series of rapid-fire developments in the investigations in both El Paso and Dayton. Crusius was booked on capital murder charges, and authorities said Sunday that he is under investigation for alleged domestic terrorism. Officials were also looking into whether hate crime charges are appropriate.

Maylin Reyes hangs a Mexican flag at a makeshift memorial near the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza said his office will seek the death penalty against the suspect.
"The loss of life is so great, we certainly have never seen this in our community. We are a very safe community," he told reporters at a news conference on Sunday. "We pride ourselves on the fact that we're so safe, and certainly this community is rocked, shocked and saddened by what has happened here yesterday."
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said Monday that the gunman got lost in a neighborhood before ending up at Walmart "because, we understand, he was hungry." Allen didn't elaborate. Crusius' hometown is the affluent Dallas suburb of Allen.
The police chief said the gun used in the shooting was legally purchased near the suspect's hometown.
In his application for a public defender on Monday, Crusius said he has been unemployed for five months, and has no income, assets or expenses. He claimed he has been living with his grandparents.
In Ohio, authorities revealed that the gunman in the Dayton rampage, 24-year-old Connor Betts, opened fire outside a bar around 1 a.m. Sunday, killing his adult sister and eight others. Police say he was fatally shot by officers within 30 seconds, and was wearing a mask, bulletproof vest, earplugs and had at least 100 rounds.
Authorities provided a dramatic video of officers rushing onto the scene and taking Betts out before he could enter another packed bar.
Police had not determined a motive for the attack as of Monday evening. Reports linked him to Antifa, and showed that he supported Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Betts was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, police said. If all of the magazines he had with him were full, which hasn't been confirmed, he would have had a maximum of 250 rounds, said Police Chief Richard Biehl.
"It is fundamentally problematic. To have that level of weaponry in a civilian environment is problematic," Biehl added.
Of the more than 30 people injured in Ohio, at least 14 had gunshot wounds; others were hurt as people fled, city officials said. Eleven remained hospitalized Monday, Fire Chief Jeffrey Payne said.
Still unknown is whether Betts targeted any of the victims, including his 22-year-old sister, Megan, the youngest of the dead.
"It seems to just defy believability he would shoot his own sister, but it's also hard to believe that he didn't recognize it was his sister, so we just don't know," Biehl said.
While the gunman was white and six of the nine killed were black, police said the speed of the rampage made any discrimination in the shooting seem unlikely.
Fox News' Liam Quinn, Brooke Singman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New York City businesses struggle after minimum wage increase

More than six months after the $15 minimum wage went into effect in New York City, business leaders and owners say the increased labor costs have forced them to cut staff, eliminate work shifts and raise prices.
Many business owners said these changes were unintended consequences of the new minimum wage, which took effect at the beginning of the year.
Susannah Koteen, owner of Lido Restaurant in Harlem, said she worries about the impact raising wages could have on her restaurant, where she employs nearly 40 people. She hasn’t had to lay off anyone, but the increase has forced her to cut back on shifts and be more stringent about overtime. She said she changes her menu offerings seasonally and raises prices more often since the wage boost.
“What it really forces you to do is make sure that nobody works more than 40 hours,” Ms. Koteen said. “You can only cut back so many people before the service starts to suffer.”
Ms. Koteen said she shelved plans to move her restaurant to a larger location. That would require her to hire more staff, and she isn’t willing to take the risk with the unpredictability of her business. “You would just have no choice but to cut people at the bottom,” she said.
In June, the city’s unemployment rate was 4.3%, compared with the state’s unemployment rate of 4%, according to the New York State Department of Labor. Both numbers have remained relatively steady during the past year.
New York City’s minimum wage has increased three times for employers with at least 11 employees in the past three years. At the end of 2016, the hourly rate rose to $11 from $9 an hour. In 2018, the minimum wage jumped to $13 from $11 an hour. The rate will increase to $15 an hour for employers with 10 or fewer workers at the end of 2019.
The current federally mandated minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Other states have passed $15-minimum-wage legislation, including Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Anthony Advincula, spokesman for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which advocated for the $15 minimum wage, said there are other factors beyond higher wages that result in unsuccessful businesses, and owners shouldn’t blame the boost for their struggles.
“Increasing to $15 would reduce income inequality, and the number of individuals living in poverty now is ridiculously high,” he said. “This is not just a business issue, this is a race, gender, pay-equality issue.”
Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books, employs 75 people at four shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ms. McNally said she hasn’t cut hours or reduced the number of people she employs to mitigate the increase, but she is working to open two more shops and scale her workload to stay profitable.
While Ms. McNally said she always has paid her employees at least $5 above minimum wage, January’s increase tightened that gap. “With raising minimum wage to living wage, it feels now like we’re at the bottom of the pay spectrum,” she said. “There’s absolutely no benefit to being a retail business in New York.”
Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said he has seen an uptick in small-business closures during the past six to nine months, and he attributed it to the minimum-wage legislation.
“They’re cutting their staff. They’re cutting their hours. They’re shutting down,” he said. “It’s not just the rent.”
Lisa Sorin, president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, said Manhattan businesses and their customers can afford to pay more to compensate for the wage increase, while those in the surrounding boroughs probably couldn’t. “It’s almost like a whirlwind of keep up or get out,” Ms. Sorin said.
Restaurants and establishments with customer bases with less disposable income are challenged, but all are experiencing changes in customer habits regardless of borough, said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance.
To mitigate the challenges restaurants face, Mr. Rigie said, local and state government should consider providing tax incentives to owners and preserve the tip credit, which allows restaurants to count some or all of an employee’s tips toward its minimum-wage obligations.
“Many people working in the restaurant industry wanted to work overtime hours, but due to the increase, many restaurants have cut back or totally eliminated any overtime work,” he said. “There’s only so much consumers are willing to pay for a burger or a bowl of pasta.”

Townhall Back to School Cartoons

AOC aide faces federal investigation amid resignation: report

The controversial chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who resigned on Friday is currently being investigated by federal officials, a new report says.
Saikat Chakrabarti faced a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission in March for alleged violations having to do with illegal fundraising. An investigation is currently underway, sources told the New York Post. According to the FEC, complaints only lead to investigations if there is enough evidence for them to believe there may have been a violation.
“Upon finding reason to believe that a violation has occurred or is about to occur, the Commission may authorize an investigation,” an FEC enforcement guidebook says.
The investigation is reportedly related to Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats, two PACs Chakrabarti started to back progressive candidates. The March complaint alleged that the groups funneled more than $885,000 to the similarly named Brand New Campaign LLC and the Brand New Congress LLC -- companies controlled by Chakrabarti that, unlike PACs, are exempt from reporting all of their significant expenditures. The PACs claimed the payments were for "strategic consulting."
Chakrabarti and Ocasio-Cortez were hit with another complaint in April over accusations that they used Brand New Congress LLC to illegally provide in-kind political contributions by offering consulting services for cheap rates, operating at a loss by only charging candidates a portion of the costs.
Ocasio-Cortez has denied any wrongdoing, telling reporters in April: "It's conservative interest groups just filing bogus proposals."
Federal officials are also looking into Chakrabarti’s salary from Ocasio-Cortez, the Post reported. The independently wealthy aide earned $80,000, as opposed to the average of $146,830. This not only allowed junior staff members to get a pay bump, it let Chakrabarti avoid requirements to reveal outside income, which only kick in for those earning at least $126,000.
The FEC did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment, and Chakrabarti could not be reached. A statement from Ocasio-Cortez's office announcing Chakrabarti's departure said he was leaving in order to take a new role at the non-profit group New Consensus to help with work on a Green New Deal.
Earlier this summer, Chakrabarti put himself at the center of a rift in the Democratic Party, with Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib on one side, and the party’s establishment led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the other.
In June, he criticized Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, for her votes on issues to do with the migrant crisis at the border.
“I don't think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system. And the same could even be said of the Southern Democrats. I don't believe Sharice is a racist person, but her votes are showing her to enable a racist system,” he tweeted.
The caucus Twitter account reacted by saying, "Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?” an apparent reference to how Ocasio-Cortez accused Pelosi of singling out women of color by making comments about her and the other progressive freshman congresswomen.
Fox News' Louis Casiano, Adam Shaw, Gregg Re and Andrew Keiper contributed to this report.

El Paso, Dayton could define August -- a historically turbulent month

El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, couldn’t be more different.
But they’re the same, now.
El Paso and Dayton are identical with Newtown, San Bernardino, Aurora, Orlando, Sutherland Springs, Blacksburg and a host of other places.
This is why we fear August.
Beware of August. No month on the calendar warps the standard conventions for news like August. It shreds the quotidian with some of the most apocalyptic events imaginable … or unimaginable. August imposes its will, vexing members of Congress, presidents, cabinet officials, mayors and other leaders with the most catastrophic of circumstances. August tears the norms asunder, often steering a new political course for the nation – and sometimes the world.
The House and Senate usually abandon Washington for the fabled “August recess.” When it comes to Congress and politics, that’s precisely why people worry about August.
Some of the weirdest, most-influential events in American and global politics unfold in August.
Volatile political town halls erupt into chaos. We’ve had occasional recalls of Congress to Washington to wrestle with emerging issues or international crises. There was even a major earthquake (an actual geological one, not a political one) in Washington, D.C., during August a few years ago. 
Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1990, sparking the first Gulf War several months later. The U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. That ended World War II weeks later.
The East German government erected the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
President Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974.
The U.S. lurched into the Vietnam War as Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964. The measure’s stated goal was to “promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia.” In reality, the resolution dragged the U.S. into a land war in Asia. That congressional blessing did nothing but fuel years of political dissent back home.
Few in Washington will forget the lasting political impact of Hurricane Katrina lashing New Orleans in August 2005.
“Beware the Ides of March,” wrote Shakespeare in "Julius Caesar." The Bard could have written about what President Trump said on Aug. 15, 2017 -- the “Ides” of August.” Mr. Trump uttered some of the most controversial remarks of his presidency that day about the Charlottesville, Va., melee a few days before.
The president claimed “There is blame on both sides,” adding there “were very fine people on both sides.”
Last August featured the double political whammy of a guilty verdict in the federal corruption trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a guilty plea by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen – within minutes of each other.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., died in August of last year.
In early August 2011, Congress approved the Budget Control Act to impose mandatory spending caps and hike the debt ceiling. Congress lived with those spending caps until last week. That vote marked the end of a tumultuous struggle over hiking the debt ceiling as the sides tried to marshal a “grand bargain” to constrain federal spending. Those efforts failed and lawmakers were stuck with the mandatory spending caps, known as “sequestration.”
It’s pretty simple. August is a defining month.
It’s pretty early in this August. But we think we know what will define this August. Better yet, how August will define American politics.
Of course, just a day or two ago, we thought impeachment or a spate of retirements by House Republicans could define August. Maybe another tweetstorm about Baltimore. To be sure, there’s still lots of runway in August.
The impeachment front bears watching this month. More than half of all congressional Democrats now support impeachment for President Trump or commissioning an impeachment inquiry. And it’s not just liberal Democrats anymore. Democrats who won battleground districts last year are increasingly demanding an impeachment inquest. Take Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Wexton just flipped her district from red to blue. Republicans now are goading moderate Democrats who seized other districts last fall to also endorse impeachment.
Here’s a mantra we often use in this space: It’s about the math. It’s about the math. It’s about the math. With more than half of all 235 House Democrats now backing impeachment, one wonders how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will respond to the impeachment push. But slightly more than half of the 235 House Democrats pushing impeachment isn’t 190 or 200. While “it’s about the math” in some respects,” it’s certainly “about the math” in other respects. The House is a long way from having the votes to impeach President Trump on the floor. Pelosi is keenly aware of both metrics. But Pelosi will inevitably have to respond in some fashion.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to be in recess until Sept. 9. But August could determine where the party goes with impeachment. Could there be a groundswell for impeachment? Or does the conversation lose its zing, struggling for relevance amid the fading vapor trail of the Robert Mueller hearings?
But El Paso and Dayton could well demarcate this August.
House Democrats have a pre-scheduled conference call at noon ET Monday. The call was on the books before the shootings this weekend. One senior congressional source tells Fox News the call could determine whether Democratic leaders recall the House to work on gun-related legislation. Dozens of Democratic lawmakers demand that Congress reconvene. In particular, many Democrats are clamoring for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to summon the Senate back to town to address some of the firearms legislation already approved by the House. But it’s doubtful McConnell would do that. In addition, the Kentucky Republican just fell at his home over the weekend and is nursing a fractured shoulder.
From the perspective of Democrats, there are several pieces of legislation the House could tackle.
Multiple sources tell Fox News the Disarm Hate Act is ready to go to the floor. The bill bars people convicted of a hate crime from possessing firearms.
Fox is told there’s still work to do on "Extreme Risk Protection Orders" and how to grapple “red flag” problems. In other words, how do authorities balance constitutional rights and seize weapons from mentally disturbed persons or those with other issues?
Legislation banning high-capacity magazines is ready but Democrats would still need to massage that subject with rank-and-file members.
Despite the din, House Democrats are not yet ready to advance a bill to outlaw “assault weapons.” Such arms were barred for a decade as a part of the 1994 Crime Bill – authored by former Vice President and Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. In fact, Congress had to return to Washington during the August recess of 1994 to lug that measure across the finish line. But the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Congress did not renew the prohibition.
Some Democratic sources tell Fox pressure could mount for Pelosi to recall the House this month, considering the Democrats’ rhetoric on guns. Moreover, such a move could increase pressure on Senate Republicans. This dynamic is amplified since House Democrats repeatedly describe the Republican-controlled Senate as a “legislative graveyard” and criticize McConnell’s stewardship. One source told Fox it could be impossible for Democrats not to rally back to Washington, to at least appear as though they are addressing the issue and Senate Republicans are not.
Pelosi and McConnell can recall their respective bodies at their own discretion. That said, Democrats aren’t prepared to return yet. We’re told Democrats would have to develop a legislative strategy behind an August session and make sure everyone in their caucus is in agreement. And, perhaps most importantly, they’d have to make sure they have the votes on any gun-related bills.
In addition, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution says the President “may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of Them.”
No chief executive has deployed this gambit since President Harry Truman.
And so here we are. August is proving to be more flammable this year than most. And we’ve got three-and-a-half weeks yet to go.
The abnormal is just the norm in August.

Trump declares 'hate has no place in our country,' as Dems demand recall of Congress

President Trump on Sunday forcefully denounced two mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, saying "hate has no place in our country."
As the president spoke, top Democratic presidential candidates -- including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Cory Booker -- demanded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recall Congress from its recess, currently slated to last until the second week of September, to vote on initiatives to curb gun violence.
Addressing reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump promised "we're going to take care" of the problem. He said he's been speaking to the attorney general, FBI director and members of Congress and will be making an additional statement Monday morning.
Trump pointed to a mental illness problem in the U.S., calling the shooters "really very seriously mentally ill."

People attend a vigil for victims of the shooting Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. A young gunman opened fire in an El Paso, Texas, shopping area during the busy back-to-school season, leaving multiple people dead and more than two dozen injured. (AP Photo/John Locher)

He said the problem of shootings has been going on "for years and years" and "we have to get it stopped."
The shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend left at least 29 people dead.

President Donald Trump, with first lady Melania Trump, walks back to Airs Force One after speaking to the media before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, N.J., Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The gunman in Ohio rampage, 24-year-old Connor Betts, opened fire outside a bar around 1 a.m. Sunday, killing his adult sister and eight others. Police say he was fatally shot by officers within 30 seconds, and was wearing a mask, bulletproof vest, earplugs and had at least 100 rounds. He injured more than two dozen people, with one in critical condition, police said Sunday. Police had not determined a motive for the attack as of Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, authorities in Texas said the mass shooting is being investigated as a domestic terrorism case. Officials are also looking into whether hate crime charges against gunman Patrick Crusius, who has also been charged with capital murder, are appropriate after an alleged manifesto believed to be written by the 21-year-old could indicate “a nexus to a hate crime.”
The document posted online expressed concern that an influx of Hispanics into the United States will replace aging white voters, potentially turning Texas blue in elections and swinging the White House to the Democrats.
However, some observers cautioned that mass shooters are increasingly using disingenuous manifestos primarily as a means to cause division and sow political discord, rather than to advance a particular agenda. Crusius became the third mass shooter this year believed to have posted to the website 8Chan, which is a haven for both ironic trolls and racists, prior to going on a shooting rampage.
"The first mistake people are making is to assume the creep meant anything he said in his manifesto," wrote columnist Brian Cates. "Something new has been added into the mix in the last year and we have to recognize it: Mass shootings done for **fun** as the ultimate troll where these [shooters] write confusing manifestos and then sit back & watch the fun as both sides claim he belongs to the other."
Cates pointed out that the Christchurch, New Zealand mass shooter's manifesto contained a mixture of left-wing and right-wing rhetoric, and by its own explicit terms, was intended to cause international political division.
Politically, Democrats appeared split as to how much blame to assign to Trump. Booker, D-N.J., declared that Trump is "responsible" for the El Paso shooting, while another Democratic presidential contender, Julian Castro said "there's one person that's responsible directly" for the massacre -- "and that's the shooter."
At the same time, Castro told ABC News' "This Week," Trump has embraced "division and bigotry and fanning the flames of hate" as a form of "political strategy."
"It's no accident that, just a few weeks after he announced his 2020 reelection bid, there he was indulging and entertaining this 'Send her back' chant," Castro said. "And he's spoken about immigrants as being invaders. "He's given license for this toxic brew of white supremacy to fester more and more in this country. And we're seeing the results of that."

Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019, in Dayton, Ohio. Multiple people in Ohio have been killed in the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours, and the suspected shooter is also deceased, police said. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

And Castro, who previously served as San Antonio mayor and U.S. housing secretary, said Trump needs to do more to "unite Americans instead of fanning the flames of bigotry."
California Sen. Kamala Harris also found blame in Trump’s use of language, which she said has “incredible consequence.”
“We have a president of the United States who has chosen to use his words in a way that have been about selling hate and division among us,” she told reporters.
Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman from Texas, accused Trump of being a white nationalist and says he is encouraging "open racism."
But Castro, speaking to anchor Jonathan Karl, reiterated that only the shooter bears "direct" responsibility. In a statement released later Sunday, Castro echoed that comment, saying, “These shooters are ultimately to blame for their actions. They are attempting to terrorize us but I believe that the vast majority of Americans reject this hatred."
In North Las Vegas, Bernie Sanders became one of several prominent Democrats to demand Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell call senators back to Washington from their summer recess.
He said the Senate should "have a special session to address gun violence in America and let us finally have the courage to take on the NRA."

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Public Service Forum in Las Vegas Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

He also called out the president, saying "I say to President Trump, please stop the racist anti-immigrant rhetoric. Stop the hatred in this country which is creating the kind of violence that we see."
Sanders then joined several of his fellow Democratic presidential contenders in calling for universal background checks for firearm purchases and more restrictions on assault weapons.
"Assault weapons are designed for one reason," Sanders claimed. "They are military weapons. And I don't have to explain that to the people in Las Vegas who experienced the worst gun tragedy in the history of this country."

Eleven-year-old Leilani Hebben puts her head on her mother Anabel Hebben's shoulder as they visit the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019, in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Booker backed up Sanders' call in a tweet: "This is a national crisis. Mitch McConnell needs to bring the Senate back from recess right now and hold votes on legislation to protect Americans from gun violence. Enough. We need to end this carnage now."
And Elizabeth Warren said the "public health crisis" of gun violence mandated a special session of Congress.
“We should vote within 48 hours on the two background check bills that have already passed the House,” Warren said. “It’s not everything we need to do on gun safety, but we could take important steps, and we could demonstrate to the American people that the gun manufacturers are not the ones who are calling the shots in Washington.”
As the political debate raged, FBI agents on Sunday executed search warrants at three homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where Crusius had stayed.
An agency spokeswoman, Melinda Urbina, declined to give more details on the locations.
One of them was the home of his grandparents in Allen, Texas, where authorities shut down streets following the shooting.
Also on Sunday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responding to online speculation, said the federal agency does not conduct immigration enforcement operations "during tragedies."
ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said the statement was issued Sunday afternoon in an effort to dispel "false rumors."
Zamarripa says ICE agents immediately responded to aid local and state law enforcement officers as the shooting unfolded.
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly, Travis Fedschun, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Democrat Blame Game Cartoons

Esper encourages placing missiles in Asia

Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he is in favor of deploying intermediate-range missiles in Asia, just a day after the U.S. pulled out of the arms control treaty with Russia.
During a visit to Australia Saturday, Esper said he would like to see missiles in place within months, but noted such a process would take more time.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper arrives in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019, for annual bilateral talks. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

He also assured that the recent withdrawal does not mean the beginning of a new arms race.
“Right now, we don’t have plans to build nuclear-tipped INF range weapons. It’s the Russians who have developed non-compliant likely, possibly, nuclear tipped weapons, so I don’t see an arms race happening.”
On Friday the U.S. officially withdrew from the intermediate nuclear forces treaty with Russia, claiming that the Kremlin failed to comply with the agreement.
Russia reportedly denied the accusations.