WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — After a request by the city’s mayor, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will postpone their plans to visit Charlotte.
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, said on Friday night that she would prefer presidential candidates delay their visits so as to not further tax the city’s resources.
“We appreciate the support of the candidates. We appreciate that they are concerned about Charlotte,” Roberts said on CNN’s Erin Burnett on the “OutFront” program. “At this point, we do have very stretched resources for security and they are working around the clock. If there would be a way to delay those visits in terms of giving us a chance to get our city back to order and back to more of a state of normalcy, that would probably be ideal.”
In a statement, Clinton’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri said that Clinton had accepted an invitation from faith leaders to visit on Sunday, but would delay the trip until the following Sunday, Oct. 2.
“Hillary is grateful for, and intends to honor, the invitation from faith leaders to visit with the Charlotte community,” Palmieri said. “After further discussion with community leaders, we have decided to postpone Sunday’s trip as to not impact the City’s resources.
“She will plan to visit Charlotte next Sunday, provided circumstances allow. In the meantime her prayers are with the people of Charlotte during these difficult days,” she added.
The scheduling change came shortly after Clinton on Friday called on North Carolina officials to release dashboard and body camera video of the shooting that left Keith Lamont Scott dead after an encounter with police on Tuesday.
Trump responded to Clinton’s postponement in a tweet that criticized her:
(Although the tweet says Clinton planned to go on Saturday, she actually had planned to visit Sunday.)
Scott, a 43-year-old black man, was shot and killed after police encountered him in a search for another man who was a suspect with an outstanding warrant.
The police department has so far refused to release two videos of the incident unless there is a “compelling reason.”
Charlotte should release police video of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting without delay. We must ensure justice & work to bridge divides. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 23, 2016
However, in a video recorded by Scott’s wife and released on Friday by his family, police can be seen shouting for Scott to drop a weapon. Meanwhile, his wife pleads with officers not to shoot her husband. She told them that he had no weapon. Police later said that a gun was found nearby.
Clinton has spoken out on this incident and several other police-involved shootings that have left African Americans dead in recent months.
Most recently, she commented on a shooting in Tulsa in which 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man, was killed by an officer who approached him after his vehicle broke down on the road. The officer in that shooting was charged with manslaughter this week.
Another unarmed Black man was shot in a police incident. This should be intolerable. We have so much work to do. #TerenceCrutcher -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 20, 2016
Trump has criticized the Tulsa officer, saying she may have been scared or “choking” when she shot Crutcher. He has also condemned violent protests in Charlotte that have followed the Scott shooting. He added his belief that drugs are a “very, very big factor in what you’re watching on television at night.” But he has not commented directly on the Scott killing.
