Van Jones on Trump’s FBI tweet: ‘You couldn’t imagine a more juvenile response to a mass killing’

CNN’s Van Jones on Tuesday slammed President Trump for his response to a school shooting in Florida, in which the president suggested the FBI could have prevented the attack if it wasn’t focused on the Russia probe.

“[It’s] so tough to see the distinction between those young people, who are so clear, so forthright … and then to have that right up against these presidential tweets,” Jones said on “Anderson Cooper 360,” referring to the student survivors of the shooting who have stood up against gun violence in recent days.

“You couldn’t imagine a more juvenile response to a mass killing of children than to use that opportunity to try to stick your finger in the eye of the people who you didn’t like before anyway,” Jones added.

In a tweet Saturday, Trump suggested the FBI could have done more to prevent the shooting and accused the agency of spending “too much time trying to prove Russian collusion.”

Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2018

Jones slammed that response, calling it “as low as you can possibly go in public life.”

{mosads}“To stand over the bodies of children and poke your finger in the eye of your adversary is as low as you can possibly go in public life, and it’s a shame that the president did that,” Jones said.

The White House on Tuesday attempted to walk back Trump’s tweet, denying that Trump was blaming the Russia investigation for the shooting.

“He was speaking not necessarily that that was the cause. I think we all have to be aware that the cause of this was that of a deranged individual that made a decision to take the lives of 17 other people. That is the responsibility of the shooter,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

“He’s making the point we’d like our FBI agencies to not be focused on something that is clearly a hoax, in terms of investigating the Trump campaign.” 

The FBI said last week that it had failed to follow “protocols” when it received a tip earlier this year about 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, who is accused of killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last week.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a Friday statement that the information should have been forwarded to the FBI’s Miami field office, but that protocol was not followed. 

Some lawmakers have called for an investigation into the FBI’s handling of the information, and Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) called on Wray to resign over the agency’s response.