COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – President Donald Trump on Friday toured a neighborhood reduced to rubble by a tornado earlier this week and marveled at “the tremendous heart” he witnessed. He also offered a message for survivors and those who lost family members: “We love them, they’re special people,” he said.
Trump assumed the role of national consoler as he traveled to Tennessee. Trump surveyed devastated communities in Putnam County, where a tornado tore a 2-mile-long path, killing 18 people, including five children under 13. Many more people were injured, some critically.
Statewide, the death toll stood at 24 from a pair of storms.
Trump was met upon his arrival by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and other top officials.
“It’s been a painful, tragic week for our state,” Lee said after surveying with Trump a street where eight people were killed.