Donald Trump’s middle son, Eric, hung out awkwardly Thursday during the president’s meeting with officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and no one revealed what he was doing there.
The officials discussed Hurricane Laura’s path of death and destruction as it barreled across Louisiana Thursday and headed toward Texas.
Eric Trump stood near the door during the meeting, according to reporters. He was not introduced, nor did he say anything. He’s an officer in his father’s company, the Trump Organization, and has no known emergency management experience, no role in the White House and no experience in politics other than to praise his dad.
A sleepy-looking president, for his part, bizarrely followed up a comment from a FEMA official about hurricane-related “injuries and deaths” by enthusiastically praising Vice President Mike Pence, who sat next to him, for his speech the previous night at the Republican National Convention.
“I just wanted to say Mike did a fantastic job last night,” Trump suddenly announced to FEMA officials. “I think you deserve the honor of making your statement right now. You made a big statement last night, let’s make a smaller one now,” he added inexplicably. (Check out the video above.)
The White House has not responded to requests to comment about Eric Trump’s mysterious presence.
The president said consideration was given to postponing his nomination acceptance speech that wraps up the Republican National Convention on Thursday night so he could travel to survey hurricane damage, but it was decided to continue with the existing plan. Trump said he’ll visit Texas and Louisiana over the weekend.
The presence of Eric Trump at the FEMA meeting — especially after former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi ranted in her convention speech about “nepotism” when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was vice president — was too much for many Twitter users. One complained about the “royal” arrogance of Trump family members’ unearned access to and influence in government affairs.
