Donald Trump Jr shared a tweet by another Twitter user that claimed the indictment of his father was an attempt to make the public forget about the victims of the Nashville school shooting.
A Manhattan grand jury voted on Thursday to indict former President Donald Trump for falsifying business records in connection to a 2016 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels for her to remain silent about a 2006 affair she claims to have had with Mr Trump, an allegation he denies.
It has been reported that Mr Trump faces more than 30 counts of business fraud.
The anti-Trump Twitter account PatriotTakes tweeted on Friday that “Don Jr reposted a tweet using pictures of child victims murdered in the Nashville school shooting to deflect against Trump’s indictment”.
The tweet shared by Mr Trump Jr on his Instagram story was a post from the popular rightwing Twitter account Catturd, which shared images of the six victims of the Nashville school shooting. Three children and three adults were killed.
After it emerged that the shooter was a trans man, Republicans have engaged in dangerous anti-trans rhetoric.
“They’re indicting Trump to make you forget about them. NEVER FORGET,” the tweet said.
The post, and Mr Trump’s sharing of it, prompted backlash from Twitter users.
“There is no ‘can’t go lower’ with the Trump Crime Family and their lackeys,” one person said.
“I’m always amazed when Republicans and conservatives tell on themselves that they can’t focus on more than one thing at a time,” another added.
“Love when they think deflection is literally how the news cycle works,” a third said.
“Funny how they all of a sudden care about victims of school shootings,” another account holder noted.
“Has Don Jr or for that matter ANY of the trump family offered to pay for the funeral expenses of any of them? OR have any Republican members of Congress using this horrific tragedy for scoring political points + self gain while doing NOTHING to prevent this? I didn’t think so,” one person added.
Another Twitter user said it was “absolutely Deflection. He couldn’t be more obvious”.
“There is no low that these people won’t stoop to,” Twitter user Nick Masters said.
“@DonaldJTrumpJr is one of the most disgusting, vile POS to ever be born! To use the deaths of these innocent children and adults who were murdered by gun violence, is unforgivable! We can’t keep blaming it solely on his drug use. He knows he’s next! #LockThemAllUp #TrumpIndicted,” account holder @AnnB said.
