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<\/a>A Tv news reporter gets emotional at the site of a mass shooting where 20 people lost their lives at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS\/Jose Luis Gonzalez<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThis is also a mental illness problem, if you look at both of these cases. This is mental illness. These are really people that are very, very seriously mentally ill,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n
Trump ordered flags at half-staff in honor of the victims.<\/p>\n
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney rebutted the Democrats\u2019 allegations and attributed the shootings to \u201csick\u201d individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no benefit here in trying to make this a political issue, this is a social issue and we need to address it as that,\u201d he said Sunday on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a personal issue for Democratic presidential candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke, the former congressman who returned to El Paso after the attack in his hometown. Asked on CNN if he believed Trump was a white nationalist, he responded, \u201cYes, I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be very clear about what is causing this and who the president is,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said. \u201cHe is an open avowed racist and is encouraging more racism in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said he agreed that Trump was a white nationalist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gives me no pleasure to say this but I think all of the evidence out there suggests that we have a president who is a racist, who is a xenophobe who appeals, and is trying to appeal, to white nationalism,\u201d Sanders said on CNN.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly Donald Trump does not want anybody shooting down innocent people,\u201d Sanders said, but his talk about invasions and calling Mexicans criminals risks leading unstable people to take up arms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhite nationalists think he\u2019s a white nationalist,\u201d added U.S. Representative Tim Ryan.<\/p>\n
A hallmark of Trump\u2019s presidency has been his determination to curb illegal immigration. Trump has drawn criticism for comments disparaging Mexican immigrants and referring to the flood of migrants trying to enter through the U.S. southern border as an \u201cinvasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent weeks, critics also accused Trump of racism after his attacks on members of Congress who belong to racial or ethnic minorities. Trump has denied he is a racist.<\/p>\n
Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Pete Schroeder in Washington; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Bedminster, N.J., Michelle Price, Susan Cornwell and Matt Spetalnick in Washington, Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Writing by Doina Chiacu and Frances Kerry, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool<\/p>\n