A4 TheWorld The Boston Globe THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

By Iliana Magra
NEW YORK TIMES
LONDON — In an unrelent-
ing quest for justice after their
son was killed in a car crash
and the driver who is a suspect
in the case fled Britain for the
US, two Britons traveled to the
White House this week.
There, Charlotte Charles
and Tim Dunn, the parents of
Harry Dunn, 19, who was killed
in the crash in August, met with
President Trump on Tuesday.
He had an unpleasant surprise
for them, they later said.
Anne Sacoolas, 42, the wife
of a US diplomat and the driver
involved in the crash that killed
their son, was in an adjacent
room, waiting to meet them.
Police in England said she had
fled the country while claiming
immunity. Britain and the US
have been involved in a diplo-
matic tug of war ever since.
Trump, a former reality tele-
vision star well versed in the
language of staging a spectacle
for the cameras, had another
surprise. Members of the White
House press corps were in an-
other room.
Apparently they were wait-
ing to record any meeting be-
tween the grieving parents and
the woman they had pleaded
with in teary television inter-
views to return to Britain to
face the police and to meet
them so they could get answers.
“The bombshell was
dropped not soon after we
walked in the room,” Charles
told reporters after the family’s
15-minute meeting with the
president in Washington.
But the teenager’s parents,
who said they would only meet
Sacoolas when she returned to

Britain, rejected Trump’s offer,

saying that it felt “rushed” and

that it would not have gone

well. “We would still love to

meet with her,” Charles said,

“but it has to be on our terms

and on UK soil.” She added,

“She needs to come back and

face the justice system.”

Mark Stephens, a lawyer for

the Dunn family, called the

president’s surprise offer of a

meeting “a gargantuan miscal-

culation.”

Stephens told the British

broadcaster Sky News that the

move was one of many mis-

takes in the case, including Sa-

coolas’ flight from Britain,

“making her a fugitive from jus-

tice.” He added of the White

House offer, “Bringing her in

that way was just so wrong.”

In a further bewildering

turn, the meeting between

Trump and the Dunn family

was attended by “the head of

US spying,” Stephens told re-

porters Wednesday. Stephens

later said that he was referring

to Robert C. O’Brien, the US na-

tional security adviser.

“This O’Brien had effectively

curated the idea that there

would be a confrontation be-

tween the Dunns and Mrs. Sa-

coolas and that the press would

film it,” Stephens added.

He added that while the

president “left an olive branch

on the table for a political solu-

tion,” O’Brien said that Sacoolas

was “not going back under any

circumstances.”

The White House and the

British Foreign Office did not

immediately respond to re-

quests for comment.

Apart from expressing an-

guish at the family’s loss

through her lawyer, Sacoolas

has not spoken out publicly

about the crash that occurred

Aug. 27 in Brackley, a town in

Northamptonshire about 60

miles northwest of London

near a Royal Air Force base that

hosts a US Air Force communi-

cation station.Northampton-

shire police said they suspected

that Sacoolas had been driving

on the wrong side of the road

when her vehicle collided with

a motorcycle ridden by Harry

Dunn. After the accident, au-

thorities said, Sacoolas told offi-

cers that she had no plans to

travel abroad. But she abruptly

left Britain, claiming diplomat-

ic immunity and setting off an

international uproar.

Britain made a formal re-

quest for a waiver of diplomatic

immunity to the US Embassy in

London on Sept. 5. It was de-

clined eight days later.

Dominic Raab, Britain’s for-

eign secretary, said in a letter to

the family Saturday that diplo-

matic immunity for Sacoolas no

longer applied to the case be-

cause she had returned to the

US. “The US have now in-

formed us that they, too, con-

sider that immunity is no lon-

ger pertinent,” Raab said, add-

ing that the matter was now in

the hands of the Northampton-

shire Police and the Crown

Prosecution Service.

diers, saying they were “no an-

gels” and fought for money.

And he berated Pelosi as a

“third-grade politician” or

“third-rate politician,” depend-

ing on the version, prompting

Democrats to walk out of a

White House meeting.

“I think now we have to pray

for his health,” Pelosi told re-

porters afterward. “This was a

very serious meltdown on the

part of the president.”

She said Trump seemed

“very shaken up” by the cascade

of criticism.

Trump said it was the other

way around. “Nancy Pelosi needs

help fast!” he wrote on Twitter.

“She had a total meltdown in the

White House today. It was very

sad to watch. Pray for her, she is

a very sick person!”

The collision in the Cabinet

Room came after the House

voted 354 to 60 for a nonbind-

ing resolution expressing oppo-

sition to Trump’s decision to

abandon the Kurds, a measure

that drew support from two-

thirds of the House Republican

caucus and all three of its top

leaders. Senate Republicans

spoke out individually, warning

that Trump was courting “di-

saster,” as one put it.

The fireworks erupted as

Vice President Mike Pence, Sec-

retary of State Mike Pompeo,

and Robert C. O’Brien, the pres-

ident’s new national security

adviser, left for Turkey in an ef-

fort to persuade President Re-

cep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey

to agree to a cease-fire in Syria.

But Trump’s commitment to

that diplomacy seemed in

doubt as he declared that the

United States had no real inter-

est in the matter.

He said he could understand

if Syria and Turkey want territo-

ry. “But what does that have to

do with the United States of

America if they’re fighting over

Syria’s land?” he asked.

uSYRIA

Continued from Page A

Trump dismissed concerns

that his decision to pull back

had opened the way for Russia,

Iran, the Syrian government

and the Islamic State to move in-

to the abandoned territory and

reassert influence. “I wish them

all a lot of luck,” Trump said of

the Russians and Syrians.

Trump’s approach upended

decades of American policy in

the Middle East, a region presi-

dents of both parties have con-

sidered vital to the United

States. While many presidents

have been reluctant to commit

troops to conflicts there, they

rarely brushed off the impor-

tance of the region’s disputes so

dismissively nor accepted the

influence of Russia so readily.

But Trump argued that he

ran for president on a platform

of ending “endless wars,” a

pledge that resonated with

many Americans tired of nearly

two decades of overseas military

operations. “They’ve been fight-

ing for 1,000 years. Let them

fight their own wars,” he said.

Critics in both parties con-

demned the president’s deci-

sion. Senator Mitch McConnell

of Kentucky, the Republican

majority leader, opened his

weekly news conference by ex-

pressing his “gratitude to the

Kurds,” adding, “I’m sorry that

we are where we are.”

Senator Mitt Romney, Re-

publican of Utah, said that by

sending Pence and Pompeo to

Turkey, Trump was trying to fix

a problem of his own creation,

but too late. “It’s like the farm-

er who lost all his horses and

goes to now shut the barn door,”

Romney said.

Erdogan of Turkey called

Wednesday for Kurdish fighters

to lay down their weapons and

withdraw from the border area

“this very night.”

Resisting Western pressure

to halt the operation, Erdogan

also requested international

support for his country’s battle

against Kurdish fighters whom

Turkey considers terrorists.

Speaking to the Turkish Par-

liament, Erdogan said Turkey

would not stop fighting until it

had established a planned “safe

zone” in Syria roughly 20 miles

deep.

Pompeo said in an interview

on the Fox Business Network

that the US delegation’s goal

was to find a solution to the cri-

sis in Syria. “We need them to

stand down,” Pompeo said. “We

need a cease-fire at which point

we can begin to put this all back

together again.”

In Washington, Trump had

little patience for Pelosi when

she and other congressional

leaders of both parties arrived

at the White House for a brief-

ing on the fighting. It was the

first time the president had

been in the same room with her

since she declared the opening

of an impeachment inquiry last

month and while the topic did

not come up, the room crackled

with friction.

When Senator Chuck

Schumer of New York, the

Democratic minority leader, cit-

ed Trump’s former defense sec-

retary, Jim Mattis, on Syria, the

president cut him off. Mattis, a

retired Marine general, was

“the world’s most overrated

general,” Trump said, according

to a Democratic account.

“You know why?” Trump

said. “He wasn’t tough enough.

I captured ISIS. Mattis said it

would take two years. I cap-

tured them in one month.”

According to the Democratic

account, Pelosi at one point

noted that President Vladimir

V. Putin’s Russia has always

wanted a “foothold in the Mid-

dle East” and now has one.

“All roads with you lead to

Putin,” she told Trump.

When Pelosi and Represen-

tative Steny H. Hoyer of Mary-

land, the House majority lead-

er, stood to leave, Trump called

out, “Goodbye, we’ll see you at

the polls.”

Anger over Syria unites

parties against president

Grieving

Britons

forgo offer

by Trump

Decline to meet

driver in crash

MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

From left, Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, the parents of

British teen Harry Dunn, with spokesman Radd Seiger.

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