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6 | POLITICO | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

The parents of a British teenager
allegedly killed in a motorcycle ac-
cident by the American wife of a
U.S. official say the White House
tried to ambush them with a forced
meeting with the woman in the
Oval Office on Tuesday.
Harry Dunn, 19, was riding his
motorcycle when police say Anne
Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. official
stationed nearby, struck him in her
car while driving on the wrong
side of the road in August. Sacoo-
las claimed diplomatic immunity
and left the country shortly after.
Dunn’s parents, as well as the Brit-
ish government, have embarked on
a public pressure campaign, lob-
bying President Donald Trump to
waive Sacoolas’ immunity and al-
low her to face charges in the U.K.
Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn,
Harry Dunn’s parents, have been
in the U.S. over the past few days,
which is when a spokesman for the
family says they received a sudden
invitation to meet with Trump at
the White House.
But in a statement on a crowd-
funding page for Harry’s cause,
spokesman Radd Seiger castigated
the White House for attempting to
spring a surprise meeting between
the Dunns and Sacoolas in front of
the press.
“The family had four surprises
yesterday,” Seiger said in the state-
ment, calling the initial invitation
to the White House “out of the
blue” and adding that the family
had no idea Trump would meet with
them personally. But, he continued,
they were unaware that Sacoolas

would even be in the building.

“It was the president’s inten-

tion for Harry’s family to meet

Mrs. Sacoolas in the Oval Office

in front of several photographers

in what [was] obviously designed

to be a press call,” Seiger said.

The Dunns declined the meet-

ing with Sacoolas. Seiger went on to

reiterate that while the Dunn family

wished to see a political and dip-

lomatic solution to their dispute,

“and need one to happen quickly

for the sake of their health,” they

hope to meet with Sacoolas “one

day in the future but in a neu-

tral and appropriately controlled

environment.”

In an interview on “CBS This

Morning” on Wednesday, the

Dunns admitted to feeling “a bit

[of] pressure” from Trump, not-

ing that “he did ask two or three

times” but “we stuck to our guns.”

Seiger ripped the White House —

singling out new national security

adviser Robert O’Brien in particu-

lar — for the ham-fisted attempt at

mediation.

“It struck us that this meeting

was hastily arranged by nincom-

poops on the run and in particular

Mr O’Brien, who appeared to be ex-

tremely uptight and aggressive and

did not come across at all well in

this meeting which required careful

handling and sensitivity,” he said.

While the Dunns said they were

shocked at the offer, they also ex-

pressed compassion for how Sacoo-

las was handling the situation.

“To be thrown into a room to-

gether with no prior warning, that’s

not good for her mental health, it’s

certainly not good for ours. You

know, none of us know how we were

going to react to have that sprung

on us,” Charlotte Charles said.

Seiger did say that Trump offered

his condolences to the Dunns, and

that they were “warmly received.”

And he added that it appeared

Charlotte Dunn’s emotional ap-

peal had prompted Trump to re-

consider his approach to solving

their “nightmare scenario.”

On CBS, Charlotte Charles de-

tailed her interaction with the

president.

“At the end of the meeting, we all

shook hands, and I ended up at the

back of our little family queue and

President Trump actually grabbed

hold of my hand. So I squeezed it

tight, and I just said to him, ‘Please,

you know, just do the right thing.

You know, if you had a son, you’d be

doing the same. You’ve said that,’”

she said. Trump responded in the

affirmative, telling her, “I abso-

lutely would,” she added.

Trump has publicly been ambiv-

alent on the situation. Last week, he

said he was “trying to work some-

thing out” regarding Sacoolas, and

that he’s personally been lobbied

by British Prime Minister Boris

Johnson over the issue. At a White

House event last week, the presi-

dent told reporters he is confident

both sides could reach a solution.

Still, he called the case “complex”

and told reporters that he hated the

conundrum. He added that he would

speak to Sacoolas herself and “see

what we can come up with so that

there can be some healing. There’s

tremendous anger over it. It’s a ter-

rible incident. There’s tremendous

anger, and I understand the anger

from the other side very much.”

Speaking to reporters on

Wednesday, Trump did not com-

ment on the Dunns’ reaction to the

meeting, but described it as “beau-

tiful in a certain way.”

The president appeared to sug-

gest that his British counterpart

asked him to set the meeting up,

but Trump said that when he of-

fered to bring Sacoolas into the

room, “They weren’t ready for it.”

“They did not want to meet with

the person in question, but we had a

very good meeting,” he said, adding

that “it was very sad, to be honest.

They lost their son.”

At the same time, as he has before

when discussing the Dunns’ case,

Trump appeared to deflect some

blame from Sacoolas, arguing that

Americans driving in the U.K. are

prone to confusion over reversed

traffic lanes.

“You go to Europe and the roads

are opposite. It’s very tough if you

are from the United States,” he said.

“The roads are opposite. She said

that’s what happened. It happens

to a lot of people, by the way.”

Asked whether he’d known if

the Dunns had expressed interest

in meeting Sacoolas, Trump replied

that he’d guessed so. “I thought

they were, based on what I saw,

they wanted to meet. But now they

say they only want to meet if they

were in the U.K.,” he said.

An attorney for Sacoolas told CBS

News her client, too, was unaware

she would potentially be meeting

the Dunns when she was invited to

the White House on Tuesday.

BY CAITLIN OPRYSKO

Slain British teen’s parents accuse W.H. of ambush

Family invited to

W.H. did not know

American who killed

their son was there

CRAIG RUTTLE/AP

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, parents of Harry Dunn, who was killed in an August road accident involving Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. official,

said Wednesday that President Donald Trump pressed them “two or three times” to meet Sacoolas during an Oval Office visit Tuesday.

“It struck us that

this meeting was

hastily arranged by

nincompoops on the

run and in particular Mr

O’Brien, who appeared

to be extremely uptight

and aggressive.”

— Radd Seiger

Dunn family spokesman