Trump criticized for not visiting cemetery

AP News

The Latest on President Donald Trump in France (all times local):

6:35 p.m.

President Donald Trump is being criticized for not finding a way to visit a cemetery in France for Americans killed in World War I.

Trump was to visit the cemetery on Saturday, but the White House canceled the trip because of bad weather, which grounded the presidential helicopter that was to fly him to Belleau, about a two-hour drive east of Paris. The White House sent a delegation that included chief of staff John Kelly in his place.

David Frum, once a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, tweeted that he thought it was “incredible” that a president would travel to France for a WWI ceremony and not pay respects to the U.S. servicemen who died in France during WWI.

Trump is to visit a different cemetery on Sunday.

My view: President Trump should have stayed home instead of avoiding a visit to the cemetary, as other leaders were at the site, but Trump decided to watch TV rather than pay in person his respects to the Americans who sacrificed their lives.