The father of an 11-year-old boy who died last year delivered an emotional speech ahead of the presidential debate Tuesday, rebuking Donald Trump, JD Vance and others for mischaracterizing the circumstances around his son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose,\u201d Nathan Clark said Tuesday evening, with his wife at his side, during a public meeting in Springfield, Ohio. \u201cAnd speaking of morally bankrupt politicians, Bernie Moreno, Chip Roy, JD Vance and Donald Trump. They have spoken my son\u2019s name and use his death for political gain. This needs to stop now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aiden Clark was killed on Aug. 22, 2023, after the school bus he was on was hit by a vehicle driven by Hermanio Joseph. The driver, a 36-year-old immigrant from Haiti, did not have a valid driver\u2019s license at the time of the crash and in May was sentenced to a prison term of nine to 13\u00bd years, the Springfield News-Sun reported.<\/p>\n
Clark\u2019s death has been amplified by Trump, Vance and other Republicans who have to sought to attack Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration and attempted to portray Americans as less safe because of undocumented immigrants who have entered the United States since President Joe Biden and Harris took office.<\/p>\n
\u201cREMEMBER: 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed on his way to school by a Haitian migrant that Kamala Harris let into the country in Springfield, Ohio,\u201d Trump\u2019s official campaign account wrote on Monday to their more than 3 million followers on X and TruthSocial. \u201cKamala Harris has refused to say Aiden\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vance went further, writing Tuesday morning on X: \u201cDo you know what\u2019s confirmed? That a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant who had no right to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the public meeting later that evening, Clark noted that he \u201cwill listen to them one more time to hear their apologies\u201d but denounced hateful rhetoric toward Haitian immigrants that has amplified since his son\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo clear the air, my son, Aiden Clark, was not murdered,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHe was accidentally killed by an immigrant from Haiti. This tragedy is felt all over this community, the state and even the nation. But don\u2019t spin this towards hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spokespeople for Trump and Vance did not directly address Clark\u2019s demand for an apology, nor back away from their prior statements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope the media will continue to cover the stories of the very real suffering and tragedies experienced by the people of Springfield, Ohio \u2014 many which haven\u2019t been given nearly the level of attention they deserve until now because they don\u2019t fit the liberal mainstream media narrative,\u201d Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said.<\/p>\n
Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for Vance, also said in a statement that \u201cKamala Harris should apologize to the angel mothers who testified before Congress yesterday,\u201d and added \u201cWill she apologize to Tammy Nobles, Alexis Nungaray, or Anne Fundner? They hold her and her open borders policies accountable for the deaths of their children. The Clark family is in Senator Vance\u2019s prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reagan McCarthy, a Moreno campaign spokeswoman, argued that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Harris \u201care the ones who should be apologizing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reckless open border policies of Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris are causing death and destruction across our entire nation,\u201d McCarthy added. \u201cThe Clark family will always be in Bernie\u2019s prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Roy did not immediately provide a comment.<\/p>\n
Trump and Vance have also spread baseless conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, killing and eating pets in the area \u2014 a claim that has been unsubstantiated by the local police and officials. Trump repeated the claim during Tuesday night\u2019s debate with Harris, even after a debate moderator said no credible evidence of the claim has surfaced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen people on television \u2026 the people on television claimed, \u2018My dog was taken and used for food,\u2019\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The father of an 11-year-old boy who died last year delivered an emotional speech ahead of the presidential debate Tuesday, rebuking Donald Trump, JD Vance and others for mischaracterizing the circumstances around his son\u2019s death. \u201cUsing Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose,\u201d Nathan Clark said Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}